Spectator
by MargaritaDaemonelix
Summary: In a future Elrios where your city is your entire life, a group of outcasts raise hell. A boy with a hidden past, and a girl trying to hide hers. A shattered soldier. A girl grasping for her lost memories. A girl locked in a tower. A lonely boy scared to lose his only friend. A girl struggling to awaken. 2016 Nanowrimo project. First book of the Blink saga.
1. Chapter 1

SPECTATOR

The first part of the Blink Saga by MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 1

You open your eyes at sunrise.

Your chickens are canoodling in the backyard without a care in the world. Sometimes, you wonder why you keep them to begin with, until you run out of rations tickets. Then you thank Aisha and her beautiful brain.

Not that you'd ever admit it, though. Your companion is still fast asleep, sprawled over her desk. She must have tried to pull an all nighter again. You'll have to make her some black coffee if you want her to stay functional through the entire day.

You sit up and rub your eyes, pushing the covers over your legs so you can get up. You walk out of the single bedroom that you and Aisha share, as quietly as you can, so you don't wake her up yet. It's still only sunrise, and more importantly, it's Sunday, which means you can let her sleep in a little while you begin to do the chores.

The first thing you do is get the chickens to shut up, which means feeding them. You can't afford much, but letting them out to graze on the grass in your tiny yard doesn't cost anything. Letting them eat the grass was just another of Aisha's brilliant ideas, and you find that the eggs you harvest are _huge_ and much tastier than the ones you buy at the store.

At least it spares your rations coupons.

You brush your hair out of your face, grabbing some string you find in the bathroom and wrapping it around a falling lock, tying it away from your line of vision. It takes a little longer to do up the other side, but in the end, you're pretty satisfied with the result.

Aisha always tells you that you look like a cherry, because your hair is red. It was originally cherry tomato, but that was too long to use as an insult. You always gracefully repay her in sarcasm by calling her grape. It was originally grape tomato too, but the both of you silently agreed to drop the tomatoes.

Tomatoes are precious. You can't afford the water needed, so you can't grow any yourself, and they can cost up to a hundred dollars a pound at times at the grocery store. Neither of you have had real tomatoes in years-only the synthetic goop they call tomato paste.

You open the cupboards in search of coffee. Aisha calls black coffee her godsend, and while you like your coffee with a little sugar, you can see why she needs the stuff. Unlike you, she has a full time job as a teacher to five young children. She fills them with all the things she can remember from her own days in school, and ideas that no one in the government would have let her teach.

There's still a few packages of instant coffee left, but Aisha needs something a little stronger. You reach into the highest cupboard to grab the precious bag of coffee beans. Aisha says her parents brought it from overseas, but you doubt any coffee beans could have lasted so long.

As you grind the beans by hand(electricity is just too expensive) your companion shuffles in the other room. "Mornin', Grape," you call out to her.

"Get your face out of my line of sight," she grumbles affectionately.

Ah, yes, Aisha Cerise. The two of you met five years ago on a online game that neither of you play so intensely anymore. Back in the days when she was just EM to you and you were just RS to her, she was the most annoying person in your guild. The moment you logged on, she was already there, explaining strategies and boss moves in detail to each member.

Eventually, the guild leader kicked the both of you out because you were filling up the guild chat with your arguing.

To be fair, you kind of deserved it.

You started talking to her normally over the summer as the two of you tried to make a new guild to replace the last(and it was one of the top guilds, too) and you found that she wasn't so annoying after all. That winter, you decided to video call each other, even though her laptop was ancient. It was then that you gave her the nickname Grape, because that was just the colour of her hair-the vibrant purple that has become so endearing to you.

This went on for three years-the two of you in contact with each other-until two years ago, she urgently called you with a plea for help. Out of all the things you'd expected Aisha Cerise to do, her asking you for a place to stay was not one of them. But it happened so suddenly-her mother died, leaving her alone. The authorities came from Altera to her home in Bethma, and since she didn't have ownership of the house, they were taking it.

You don't know what you were thinking at the time, but you instantly ran to take your neighbour's car(he was drunk all the time, anyways, so the car was as good as yours) and you drove the twenty-ish kilometres to Bethma to pick her up.

Your parents were beyond confused, but they didn't question it when you returned home at two in the morning with a girl from Bethma.

You turned twenty at the end of last year, meaning you could finally own property. The two of you moved into the new little first-floor apartment about five months ago, and you finally feel like there's a pattern to life again.

When Aisha finally comes out of the bathroom, wrapped in one of your mom's old bathrobes, the water in the kettle is already boiling, and the coffee grinds are sitting in a little fabric strainer you made out of an old slingshot and a torn-off sleeve.

"Have a nice nap, princess?" You tease her as she pours the boiling water over the coffee grinds. "When did you go to sleep last night?"

"You mean when did I go to sleep this morning?" She sighs as she sets her mug down. "I honestly have no clue, but if I had to guess, around four."

That's not that bad. You remember the last time she tried to pull an all-nighter over the weekend, which only ended in catastrophe. "Get some sleep tonight," you say. "I'll finish up whatever things you still have to prepare."

She only yawns and nods sleepily. You figure it's about time you got going. Today's Sunday, which means you need to get groceries. Despite Aisha being able to grow many things in the tiny yard you two have, there are things that you just can't grow yourself. Like tomatoes.

God, you miss your tomatoes.

You figure you should probably get a list from Aisha, who manages the finances in your chaotic house, but she's trying to sip coffee while using the newspaper as a pillow, spilling the bitter liquid over the perfectly good paper. It'll be another twenty minutes until the caffeine kicks in, and by then, the market will already be empty.

You need to get a move on. The market's already opening.

Grabbing a cloth bag off the kitchen counter, you ruffle Aisha's already messy hair before leaving the house. You make extra sure to lock all the brackets on your door, because there's no way in hell you'd trust your half-asleep companion to watch over the house while you're out. Even though Ruben is fairly safe, thieves are still rampant in the mornings.

You'd like to return to see your house and your roommate in one piece, please.

You only need to get a few things. Eggs and chicken you already have, as well as some vegetables that you grow in your backyard. Milk is definitely high up on that list, as well as flour. Aisha's fond of rice, but the price has been growing for the past three years and doesn't look like it's about to drop anytime soon. You'll have to get something else to satisfy her.

By the time you get to the market, only a few minutes away from your home, it's already bustling with life. "Morning, Elsword," greets Adams, your parents' neighbour. "Care for a drink?"

He's already drank half his wares, but there's a good deal of fruit-based liquor that he's hasn't touched. "I'll take a bottle of the mulberry wine," you decide, since neither you nor Aisha hate it. You haven't had a good drink in nearly half a year.

The single bottle costs you a solid hundred dollars, since you can't use your rations coupons on it. Adams doesn't accept them, anyways, because private vendors can't accept rations coupons. It leaves you with just shy of seven hundred dollars, which will barely be enough to cover the cost of the groceries, and it certainly won't buy anything more than the few things you have planned to buy for the week. You get the idea that Adams hasn't sold much of his stock in a while.

The market is incredibly lively, despite the sun only having risen less than half an hour ago. You wade through a crowd pushing to buy zucchinis(only twenty dollars a pound today) and find a much less occupied stall. There's only a half-asleep man sitting at the table, hunched over a variety of household goods and fresh breads. It's always a warm table, because all of the bread comes straight out of the oven.

"Hey Dad," you tell him loudly. You may have moved out of their house, but you still make a point to visit your parents' stall every time you go to the market.

Your voice shakes him out of his zombie-like state. "Hey, morning, Elsword," he manages, smiling. "How's your girlfriend?"

"Dad, for the last time, I'm not dating Aisha," you groan.

"The two of you _live_ together," he reminds you. "After you left the house at _eleven at night_ and drove _two hours_ to _find her in person_."

"Lowe, stop teasing the poor boy!" Chides another familiar voice. Her short salmon hair swinging, your mother steps out from the zucchini disaster and gives you a hug and a kiss on each cheek. "Elsword, how have you been?" She asks softly.

"I've been… Great, Mother, thanks," you reply. You have not been _great_ , your arms are still killing you from shovelling manure nearly all of yesterday. You think you've permanently lost your sense of smell.

Her smile is still as angelic as ever, though you can see the stress of life bearing down on her. "Come visit with Aisha sometime," she tells you. "You haven't had any breaks since you started working on the farm, have you?"

"Mother, you know how it is," you say. "Aisha's job is extremely taxing on her. I need to get off my ass and start working longer hours."

Both your parents look concerned. They may not be your biological parents, but they went through hell to bring up you and your sister, and you want only the best for them. "Relax," you drawl. "It'll be fine. I get today off, don't I?"

Your mother sighs. "As long as you stay safe, that's all that matters," she says, giving you a kiss on the cheek. You feel her slip a still-warm package, probably filled with apple turnovers, into your bag, and you can't help but smile a little. It smells absolutely heavenly.

"Thank you, mother."

You dad gets up to ruffle your hair. "Go get'er, Elsword," he chuckles as you try to get it down again.

When a customer arrives, and both your parents are occupied, you make your leave quietly. You try not to add to their pile of troubles the best you can. Maybe you can ask Aisha to make something nice for them later today.

The first stop on your shopping trip that is actually scheduled is in fact the farm you work at. It's run by Banthus, a former mercenary who was granted a fortune when he helped take down the former mayor of Elder.

Truth be told, though, the old man was crazy. He was convinced the entire royal family in Altera were robots, and he spent nearly his entire life researching them in secret. When he handed Wally to Altera, Banthus had been on the run for nearly three years. The royal family in Altera declared him innocent and gave him a large pension to compensate him for the arm he lost fleeing.

He settled down in his hometown of Ruben, buying a large piece of land and raising sheep and cattle. And now, since his lost arm prevents him from doing things like shovelling manure and slaughtering pigs, you've become part of the small army that does these things for him.

"Morning, kid!" He bellows as you walk into the farm. His voice is kind, but it's still terrifying. "Ain't it your day off?"

"Yes, sir," you tell him, rolling your eyes. "I'm here for groceries."

When Banthus laughs, you can feel the ground shake a little. "Kid, it's not even seven in the morning yet, and you're already up for groceries?" He chuckles. "That Cerise girl must have you wrapped around her little finger like caramel candy."

He pulls a large sachet off his belt, one you know he keeps lots of candies in to satisfy the children that come to visit the farm. "Take some," he offers.

You shake your head. "Nah. Sugar this early in the morning, old man?" You tell him, grinning. "Aisha would have my head."

Banthus roars with laughter, and you swear he's going to blow your skinny frame away. "Well, you know the drill," he says, walking away to entertain some customers.

The girl at the counter is Banthus' eight year old daughter, Ally. "Morning, Mr. Sieghart!" She chirps. You wonder how she has so much energy at such a time.

"Morning, Ally," you reply, ruffling her hair. She pushes an auburn lock out of her face as you try to remember the groceries that you need. "I'll need two jugs of milk, a ten-pound sack of flour, a jug of oil, and…" You pause for a moment, thinking of what would absolutely piss Aisha off. "A pound of pork."

For an eight-year old, Ally is very bright. Even though she can hardly grip the calculator in her tiny hands, she does the math quickly. "That'll be seven-fifty, Mr. Sieghart," she says, her eyebrows furrowed. "Unless you've got tickets."

You didn't expect the cost to be so high, but you pull the ticket book out of your wallet anyways. "One for the milk, one for the flour, one for the oil and one for the pork," you dictate as you rip four tickets out of the little booklet.

Ally giggles and scoops them up. "Then that'll be five fifty, Mr. Sieghart!"

You seriously envy this kid's enthusiasm. You take the cash out of your wallet, counting the bills silently before placing them in Ally's outstretched palm. "Five hundred and fifty dollars."

She slips the wad of paper into a box, taking out fifty dollars and stuffing it into a small pocket at her side. "Your dad giving you a bit of the profits?" You joke.

Ally nods. "He says I can keep fifty dollars from every sale!" She exclaims. "I need to save it up for uni… University."

"University." The thought of this innocent little girl going off to study in Elder, maybe Sander, scares you a little. "Someday, Ally, you'll go places. Lots of places."

She beams as you give her a pat on the head. "Here is your order!" She chirps, gesturing at the stack of items the weekend workers brought in. You silently calculate your purchases before putting everything but the flour in your backpack, and sling it on your shoulders. The giant sack of flour you heave up, over your head, and place on top your nearly full backpack.

"Have a nice one, Ally," you tell her before making your way out of the farm. There's still a place you need to go to pick up groceries and supplies-a little stall in the market, belonging to the farm next to Banthus'. While they don't have any affiliations, there's a silent agreement that this farm grows crops while Banthus raises livestock. They never get into fights. It's actually sort of quiet when you visit the woman who runs the stall.

"Hello, Elsword, what can I get you?" She asks. Lily is a thin woman, but that doesn't stop her from lifting a sack of potatoes over her head. "I've got a lot of potatoes today."

"Yeah, I figured," you tell her, scanning the pile of sacks right behind her table. "Do you have a five-pound sack?"

She hauls up one from underneath the table and drops it in front of you, on the table. You wince as the impact shakes the table, but it holds steady. "How much for the sack?" You ask.

"A hundred," Lily replies, holding out her hand. "Fifty with a ticket."

You shift the sack of flour to one shoulder to take your wallet out. With a little help from Lily, you rip a rations ticket out of the booklet and hand it over to her, along with a fifty dollar bill. It leaves you with only two twenties, which worries you. The next time you're paid is Wednesday, but the bills arrive tomorrow. Thank goodness Aisha gets a much higher pay than you do.

Lily helps set the thick paper sack on top of your flour. You've gotten used to hauling around heavy things, so fifteen pounds on your shoulders doesn't bother you as much anymore, but the satchel holding everything else is starting to hurt a little. You thank Lily and decline her offer to lunch before heading back home.

Ruben is comparatively less populated than some of the other cities in Elrios. Elder is a huge social and economical hub and has nearly five times as many people as Ruben. Velder, often referred to as Elrios' trashbin, has about ten times as many. The smog-covered industrial Lanox doesn't have quite as many people as Velder, but there are still a lot.

Some of Elrios' cities have much less people, though. Sander has a very small native population and a very large tourist population in comparison. Altera has barely a third of the people that Ruben has, of whom are mostly those serving the commander and his family.

The relative lack of people living in Ruben means your neighbourhood is quiet in the mornings. As you trudge down the cracked path, the only sounds you can hear are peoples' alarms waking them up and chickens squawking. After all, Aisha's not the only smart person in this part of Ruben. Nearly everyone keeps at least one chicken around to make the most out of their money.

Since both your hands are occupied, you knee the door gently a few times to alert Aisha. You kicked the door once and spent a week's earnings trying to repair it. In the end, you had to buy a new door. To remind you to not kick the door, Aisha painted a giant red star on the white door, right where you'd usually kick.

It hurts your kneecap when you accidentally jab it into the brick wall, but soon you can hear the lock clicking. Your roommate swings open the door, looking a little more composed than when you last saw her. "What'd you get?" She asks. You feel a little insulted that you didn't even get a proper _hello_ , but you swallow it down to move indoors and set your groceries on the floor.

"A sack of potatoes. Flour. Oil, milk." You pause for a moment to try and remember what else you bought. "Pork. Oh, and mulberry wine from Adams."

Aisha sniffles a little, pulling the bottle out of your bag and uncorking it to take a whiff. "It's not the best I've had, but it's okay," she comments. "How much do you still have?"

You wince again, thinking of the bills. You doubt you'll be able to scrape together nearly two hundred dollars by tomorrow. Maybe you can convince Banthus to give you partial pay early. "Forty bucks."

Her expression turns a little sour. "Well, there go my plans of buying myself a new shirt," she mutters. She gets paid on Friday evenings, because that's when the week at school ends, and she gets paid significantly more than you. She doesn't have much more to say, and helps you move the groceries into the house.

It's barely seven thirty, and the world in Ruben is already bustling with life. Sometimes you can't help but wonder where the serene little town you grew up in went.

* * *

Your hands have been rubbed raw by dinnertime.

Both you and Aisha spent the day cleaning every inch of your apartment, because she's a neat freak and you trudging home, covered in dried mud and animal feces drives her nuts. Sundays are your cleaning days, when you and Aisha scrub the dust and the dirt out of every inch of your little apartment, when you wash the bathrooms once a month, and the showers twice a year.

At this point, you don't feel so much pain when you've practically shaved off a layer of your skin, only a slight tingling across your palms. Aisha doesn't do as well with the stinging, and uses a balm she made out of canola oil to massage her sore fingers.

As you gingerly cube potatoes, Aisha pan fries a little piece of the pork that you bought. As soon as you've sliced them all, she slides them off the cutting board into a pot of boiling water. You absentmindedly stir them as she adds spices some spices, some flour and some water to her pan. It thickens into a rich gravy.

"Peas," she tell you. You rush to the backyard to snag a few peapods from your pea plant, ripping them open as you step back into the apartment and dropping them in the gravy. Before you met her, you've never had gravy in this way before, but Aisha insists that her mother always made gravy with peas when she could.

Soon, the potatoes are soft, and you drain the water into a large bowl before dumping the potatoes into another. Aisha hands you a spoon as she looks for a smaller bowl to pour the gravy into, and you use it to mash the potatoes.

As the two of you have your simple dinner sitting on the floor, Aisha turns on the TV. You can't afford to get any extra channels, but you have access to the national news station and a single channel that plays reruns of really old movies from way before either of you were born. She keeps telling you that eating while watching TV isn't healthy, but she does it herself anyways.

The news is boring as always. The Commander of Altera, Adam Nasod, is having another speech. It must be his third this week. Behind him, his younger sister, Lady Evangeline Nasod, and her white-clad bodyguard, are standing close together, whispering. You wonder if they approve of his plans for Elrios at all.

You're about to shovel another spoonful of potatoes into your mouth when the TV begins to flicker rapidly. The screen turns black for a moment, then the blue star of the Sander Imperial Library lights up the screen before a picture of a beaming young woman appears.

You can literally hear Aisha's jaw drop. The woman in the picture can't be over thirty, but has pin-straight white hair. Her blue eyes are sparkling with mischief, and you get the idea that at the time when the photo was taken, she was about to leap at the photographer.

She's also got a chest the size of the moon, which explains why Aisha is staring at her flabbergasted.

"That… That's the head librarian at the Imperial Sander Archives…" She whispers in shock. "What happened to her?"

A robotic male voice, clearly autotuned, is voicing a script for this halftime show. "I apologize to the people of Elrios, but this is a message from the head of the Imperial Sander Archives. Or rather, a message from someone representing the head of the Imperial Sander Archives."

"Because this is the current condition of the head librarian at the Archives."

Then the picture changes, and for a moment, your heart stops.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy Nanowrimo! This is the first part of my large project, Blink, a four part Elsword fanfiction series in progress. I hope y'all enjoy.**

 **Also, I'm sorry about the sudden change in my writing. I somehow lost the ability to write in past tense and third person, but gained the ability to write in second person/present tense... Don't know how that happened.**

 **Classes for the characters in Blink can be found on my profile page. Should be fairly self explanatory in this chapter, though...**

 **Anyhoo, have a nice day y'all!**

 **-MargaritaDaemonelix**


	2. Chapter 2

SPECTATOR

The first part of the Blink saga by MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 2

Sometimes, you seriously don't understand why every man in your neighbourhood feels the need to flirt with Rena.

You know she's pretty and all, and her past is shrouded in mystery to everyone, but every time she steps outside, there's a wave of compliments chasing after her.

You're barely out the door when Noel is at your door, looking like he's had three coffees already. "Morning, Raven," he says. "How's Rena?"

"She's cleaning the house," you lie. She's still fast asleep, but you're not about to let Noel know that. Rena has a hard enough time sleeping without your weird-ass neighbour/childhood best friend trying to romance her at six in the morning. "Don't go bothering her. You know how she is when you disturb her."

Noel nods. "You off to the market?" He asks.

There's a small smile on your face as you reply to him. "Nothing better to start your day with than a whiff of bread from the market," you joke.

The two of you share a laugh. "Well, if you need any help with groceries, I'll probably be hanging around Praus' place," he says, waving to you as he heads off towards the elevator. It confuses you a little, because Praus' shop is in the opposite direction, but you shake it out of your head and sling your bag of vegetables over your prosthetic arm.

It's been five years since you lost in Altera. The Alterans were kind in giving you a new arm for the one you lost, but it still bothers you to wake up, flexing a shoulder that isn't really there. Rena's never pressed you about it, and you never bring it up.

For the millionth time, you feel a wave of guilt wash over you as you thank El that Rena doesn't have a single memory to her name.

Nearly a year ago, the entirety of Velder decided to show up at your doorstep, screaming something about an unconscious woman who'd stumbled into Vanessa's office and collapsed on the floor. The most shocking part was how they all told you about how she was the spitting image of your late fiancee, Seris.

When you lost in Altera, you lost everything. You lost your arm, your best friend, the young girl who was brave enough to accompany you all. You lost your will to live, because Seris lost her life. So when everyone you'd ever known was insisting she was alive, you were shocked.

The moment you laid eyes on Rena, though, you instantly knew something was wrong. Seris' hair was a pale strawberry blonde that turned to golden flames under sunlight. Rena's hair was blonde, too, but there was no warm pink, only the lightest bit of what appeared to be crisp green.

When she opened her eyes, they were just as bright green as Seris' eyes, but it wasn't right. Rena's eyes had been so dull, so dead, so… lifeless.

It took several months for the life to return to her eyes.

It became clear, after Rena had recovered, that everyone expected you to take her in. You had no choice; Rena had no clue where to go and wouldn't speak at all of where she came from. You know she has scars across her back and shoulders, so you can't begin to imagine where she came from.

The only thing you know for sure about her is that she can't be Seris. She _can't_ be Seris.

And so you've been living with Not-Seris for nearly a year now. Sometimes you have remind yourself that she has her own name that isn't Not-Seris, but it's hard to remember Rena's name when she looks just like your fiancee.

You hate her. You love her. You don't know who she is. Even she herself doesn't know.

The walk to the market is long, but not tedious. Seris used to live almost in the middle of town, you recall, as you pass by a row of apartments that was constructed when you were six. Before she moved into your slightly more spacious house, you used to sleep on the floor in her house after school. It brings back painful memories every time you walk into town, but you've learned to endure it.

Rena calls you cold. You _wonder_ why.

"Morning, Raven," says Praus as you pass by his shop. Funny, Noel still hasn't gotten here. Your blue-haired friend is wiping down a display case filled with carved wooden charms that were probably made by his grandmother. You know he hasn't sold anything in quite some time, you wish you could help, but you've barely got enough to sustain yourself and Rena.

"Good morning, Praus," you say as cheerfully as you can manage. It still escapes your lips in a boring monotone as always, though.

"I assume you've got more vegetables?" He says, leaning against the display. "I hear Kaeli's granddaughter has a ton of carrots today, twenty-five apiece."

You shake your head. "Rena already grows carrots," you remind him. "I've got to get these down to Kaeli's stand so I can get home and stop Noel from being a creeper."

Praus laughs. He knows Noel just like you do, and he knows about all of his romantic failures. "I'll leave you to that. My mom is making omelettes in the back room," he tells you before turning back into his shop. "See you around, Raven."

Dear El, how are you, stone cold you, friends with the bright and cheerful Praus and Noel?

You take that statement back. How you befriended Praus and Noel in the first place was simple-you were all in the same class in school. How they've _stayed_ friends with you is a whole new question. Even though you led an uprising and failed, Praus and Noel have stayed friends with you, supported you since you came home a broken man.

You only have one stop in this trip, and that's at Kaeli's vegetable stand. She sells vegetables and buys them too. It's almost like she runs a black market for fresh produce, one that's almost completely legal.

The old woman herself isn't here today. You can imagine her kind, sarcastic laughter, and the way her eyes twinkle as she scolds you when you accidentally snap the kale in half.

Instead, her granddaughter, Chloe, is running the stand. Out of Kaeli's four children and eleven grandchildren, Chloe is the only one left in Velder. She's got the same dark skin and vivid pink hair as her grandmother, but that's about where the resemblance stops.

"What do you want, bird man," she snaps when you approach her table. She has weird nicknames for everyone. Yours is bird man because of your name. Rena's is green lady, which you figure is somewhat more polite than bird man.

"I've got some things from Rena's planters," you grumble. "Heard carrots are worth twenty-five each today."

Chloe rolls her eyes. "Oh please."

After she weighs the kale and counts the carrots and avocados and each individual sprig of cilantro and mint, she totals up the values. "Your sales will come to…" She taps her phone screen like a maniac. You note that it's one of the newest models on the market. "A hundred and seven dollars and twenty-five cents."

You frown. That's half of what you calculated back at home, using your shitty scales. "Chloe, are you doing the math right?"

She snorts at you, putting a sprig of your mint in her mouth. "Yes. I don't follow my mam's rules, bird man. Now, are you going to take your dough or not?"

She's got the bills all stacked up in her hand. Just to be sure, you count them again silently after you take them. It's short five cents.

You look up at her. She's already gone off into the house behind the table, giving you the evil eye. You glare back at her, taking back your five cents worth of cilantro before stuffing the money into the inner pocket of your thin jacket quickly.

The road back home seems a lot shorter, if only because you don't have a sack of vegetables weighing you down. You walk through the lobby of the building, which has been empty since management left. You push the up button of the elevator a few times, but it doesn't seem to work.

A sigh escapes your lips as you turn to trudge up the staircase to your home on the eighth floor. All the way up the staircase, you can see where the once clean building turned to ruin. There's an interesting starburst on the second step up from the third floor, for example, from the time someone dropped a beer bottle on the water-logged concrete. A hole in the wall at the seventeenth step up from the fifth floor because Noel locked himself out of his house and you and Praus had to get his key out somehow.

… A bloodstain, close to the eighth floor door. That one's fairly new. You have no clue where it's from, and you don't want to know where.

When you reach your door, you knock on the door a few times gently. There's no response, which means Rena's not awake yet.

Just as you're about to fish for your key in your pocket, the door swings open. "Welcome back, Raven," says Rena, her voice still soft from sleep. "Did you make a good sale?"

You just can't find the heart to tell her what really happened. As you slip past her into the house, dropping the bag on the table, Rena softly closes the door and follows you in.

She sits next to you on the tiny bed that the two of you share. It feels weird, because Seris once occupied that space. "Talk to me, Raven," she says, stroking your artificial arm gently. "What happened on your way to the market?"

You try to recall the events in order. "I talked to Noel… And then to Praus."

Rena nods. "Did you have a good chat with them?"

"Yes."

"Keep going."

"I… Went into town," you say, staring into your lap mindlessly. "I went to Kaeli's stand. She wasn't there today."

Rena exhales a little, sounding exasperated. "Was Chloe there, bird man?"

You growl a little at the back of your throat. Rena raises her hands defensively. "Hey, I meant it as a joke."

"Yeah, she was," you sigh. "And you know she doesn't follow Kaeli's rules."

The two of you sit in silence as Rena strokes your artificial arm softly. "Well, you sold the vegetables, which is what you went to do," she says. "I need to go make breakfast now."

When she leaves you to sit on the bed alone, you're suddenly aware that it's cold without her sitting beside you.

By the time you get up to join her, she's already got oatmeal bubbling on the stove and hot mint tea steaming. "Help yourself," she says, setting a spoon down from scraping out some oatmeal into her own bowl, and pouring a mug of tea for both of you.

You eat your breakfast in silence.

Rena never looks up from her breakfast. She's still wrapped in the green cardigan that she arrived in. Praus once told you that it was of a very high quality, made from fibres he'd never seen before. The green in her hair is beginning to wash out, which means that it was possibly dyed. Moments like this are when she looks the most like Seris, with her hair down like a curtain around her face.

You still have no idea where Rena comes from. When she first came to Velder, everyone noticed how healthy she was. She'd obviously been eating well, and it showed in her skin, her strength, her body shape. She came in a white dress shirt and a black skirt and boots, and of course the cardigan that she refuses to part with, all of incredibly high quality.

Heck, she's _vegetarian_. She eats nothing but vegetables. It was clear right from the beginning that Rena came from one of the higher castes.

But then why would she have run all the way to Velder? Your city is home to the lowest caste in Elrios. If Rena was from the higher three, then why was she running away from prosperity and happiness?

As you head out of the apartment wordlessly to go off to work, you've never felt so confused by what a runaway woman has done to you.

* * *

Five hours you work until lunch, and then another seven and a half until you can finally go home. It's nearly eight when you finally reach the old apartment building again.

Even as you gaze up at the building you call home, someone turns off their lights. Great. Another patch of darkness for your life.

You don't bother checking the elevator; at this hour there's no way it's going to work. Instead, you head up the stairs. The minute you open the stairwell, though, there are sounds coming out that make you wish you hadn't.

Your day has been shitty enough without having to take the fire escape up.

When you were about nine, there was a fire in Velder that destroyed nearly everything in the west end of the city. Thousands of people died in the blaze, trapped in their own homes and unable to escape. After the fire, all the buildings in Velder were required to install fire escapes. Thankfully, the one on your building is a legitimate staircase and not just a rickety ladder.

That doesn't make it much safer, though. The ladder has suffered significantly since it was built. The flight down from the roof to the fifteenth floor is still broken from the time someone fell off the roof and broke their fall with it.

You climb up the fire escape with one hand firmly on the railing at all times. When you get to your apartment, you knock a few times on the window glass.

Rena comes to open it. "Was the elevator not powered again?" She asks.

You nod.

"Lemme guess. Someone was doing something nasty in the stairwell," she says, pulling you into the room and closing the door behind her. "Well, you're back home and you're safe, so all is well."

She's already made dinner, though she hasn't eaten any yet herself. "It gets lonely without someone else at the dinner table," she says. Even if you do manage to convince her to eat earlier, she always sits with you as you eat in silence.

Tonight's dinner is boiled carrots and some stewed chicken bits. Rena doesn't touch the chicken at all, so the entire bowl of it goes to you. As the two of you eat your bread and carrots in silence, you can't help but ask her about her diet.

"Rena, why are you vegetarian?"

She doesn't meet your eyes. "It reminds me of things I want to forget," she tells you, grinding a piece of carrot under her spoon absentmindedly, "and things I've possibly forgotten. I've lost most of my memories, but I can remember so much blood."

El save your soul. Where is this woman from?

After dinner, Rena clears the plates away, but you wash them with a sink of water and an old rag. One by one, you stack them in the cupboard above the sink; first the plates, then the bowls, then the cups, and finally the cutlery.

Eight thirty is when you finally settle in. You and Rena have to take turns taking showers, and the water is never hot, only warm. Rena goes first, and while she's in, you get a little bit of quiet.

Well, not really. There are wild parties going on upstairs, parties you might have participated in or hosted before Altera. Now, you just want to go to sleep and wake up alive.

Rena has left some of her clothes in a messy pile on her bed. You don't try to snoop, but the sight of her familiar cardigan catches your eye. Why out of all things is she so attached to this cardigan? You pick up a corner as you kneel in front of her bed and gingerly sniff it. Rena always smells like fresh flowers, which you figure comes from this cardigan. Now, as you're examining it for yourself, you realize that it's covering up the faint scent of isopropyl alcohol.

As you scan the green fabric over, another tiny detail catches your eye. The sleeve has twelve perfect little puncture holes in a circle at the deltoid, indicating that there once was a badge sewn to it.

 _So Rena is from one of the higher castes after all._ You figure that, and the fact that she's vegetarian, add up to enough evidence to prove she's from a higher-up caste. The question of why she left, though, still lingers. If she really were from a higher caste, she wouldn't be here in dirty, dead Velder.

Before you know it, the shower stops running, and you're scrambling to grab your clothes and look as composed as possible while Rena steps out, her hair looking greener than ever while wet. "There's still some warm water," she tells you.

"Thanks."

After you lock the bathroom door, you strip and toss your dirty clothes on the counter, setting the clean ones aside. Rena is fond of using up a lot of the hot water; you figure that makes sense, since she was most likely from a higher caste. Today, there's still some fairly warm water left.

As you stand under the running water, you begin to think back on the past few months. After Rena recovered from her wounds in escaping, it became clear that a good portion of her life was missing. No one knew how old she was, and since she had no ID card on her, no one could scan for her in the systems. There was an attempt to search the databases for her entry, but the name "Rena Lire" yielded no results whatsoever.

The only person who seemed to be able to get along with her fairly well was Vanessa, head of the Affairs Office in Velder. Vanessa spoke to Rena several times in private, and from these conversations a few scraps of information emerged.

From the sounds of it, Rena was being abused where she was living before, or at least treated horribly. There seemed to be one person who was a very good friend of hers, as well as this person's childhood friend who also treated her with kindness. Rena's concept of her own age was between twenty-four and thirty.

There was also more. She only had memories of the past three years or so. Before that was all a "messy blur of blood and flowers", in her words.

You have too many questions, and for each answer you find, there are a lifetime's worth more questions that flood you.

You blink. The water's gone cold. You're shivering.

You wash up with the little bar of soap as quickly as you can. The water slowly trickles to a stop before you can fully rinse off all the suds. You wipe them down with the remaining water in your hair, hoping it won't stick to your clothes.

You put on a fresh set of underwear and some black pants and a random shirt you didn't know you owned. It's clean, though, so as you open the door of the bathroom, Rena smiles.

"What does your shirt say?" she asks as you sit down next to her, holding the big bath towel. "Hold on a second, let me read it."

She grabs the front of your shirt and pulls it flat. "Velder Secondary, year of…" She smiles again. "Your graduation shirt? It's nice. The design is well-planned."

You have to agree. If Velder had a badge, it would be the stylized crow on the shirt. Seris designed the shirt that year, and she did a beautiful job of it.

Rena kneels on the floor in front of the TV and hands you the towel. As she turns on the TV and tweaks around with it, you gently dry her hair, making sure not to tug on it. You used to dry Seris' hair all the time when the two of you lived together. Rena's hair is slightly longer, and a little healthier-looking, and of course it's green. It feels just as soft as Seris' hair, though.

After she deems her hair dry enough, she moves to kneel behind you with the towel. Your hair is still dripping wet, but under Rena's gentle hands, it dries up quickly.

Adam Nasod is having another speech on the general news channel. You've come to tolerate his voice over the course of the past five years, though it's still painful to look at him after the kind of pain he put you through. There's a crowd beneath him, hanging onto his every word, and his younger sister, Lady Evangeline Nasod, stands with her bodyguard.

There's an old story that people used to tell about Commander Nasod's sister and her bodyguard. Legend has it that she used to have an armada of bodyguards, just like her brother. To test them, someone within the palace staged an assassination attempt(with the Commander's permission, of course) and only one stayed behind to protect the young lady.

The others… No one knows where they are now.

The screen suddenly goes dark. Rena stops towelling off your hair to peer around your head. "What's going on?" She asks, her voice suddenly very quiet.

There's a badge symbol on the screen now. It takes you a moment to recognise it, but it comes to you clearly as the symbol of the Imperial Sander Archives. A four-pointed blue star, to represent the cardinal directions.

Then, a picture. A woman with the snow-white hair of the ancient Alterans, but also with the vibrant eyes of a child.

Rena can't speak. Her eyes are wide as she moves to sit beside you in shock.

"I apologize to the people of Elrios, but this is a message from the head of the Imperial Sander Archives. Or rather, a message from someone representing the head of the Imperial Sander Archives."

Her eyes narrow, like the autotuned voice is familiar to her, and not in a good way. "What is the brat thinking?" She growls. You've never heard Rena speak like that before.

"Because this is the current condition of the head librarian at the Archives."

The picture changes, and you want to throw up your entire dinner.

The body is contorted, that's for sure. Many parts of the image are censored in mosaics, but it's still clear that the head librarian is gone. Bloody surgical instruments are scattered all across the ground around her. Locks of her bloodstained hair are stacked on a plate. The room seems to be empty, but the few lights that are on seem to be swaying eerily.

The message is clear. _Sander has fallen._

"We apologise for this announcement," continues the voice, "and we hope nothing of this kind will happen again. Regularly scheduled programming will continue as planned shortly."

Sure enough, Adam Nasod's speech flickers back on within seconds. He's still calmly delivering that speech, possibly unaware of the information broadcasted across Elrios just seconds ago. The crowd below and the people behind him on the stage are clearly just as clueless on the subject. Everyone is still in a blissful state of unknowing, like a window into the past.

Beside you, Rena looks like she's about to cry. "What happened to her?" She whispers, staring down into her hands like they're covered in the blood of the dead woman. "Why did they hurt her? Why did he put that on live television?"

You don't know who "he" is, but if he's got anything to do with Rena's past, you figure you should probably shut up for now. Rena's still in a state of shock. The rest of the nation is still in a state of shock. _You're_ still in a state of shock.

The only thing you're sure of is that you're not safe here, and maybe you'll never be safe.

* * *

 **A/N: AHHHHHHHHHH**

 **I can't write male characters? I don't know how? Plz send help?**

 **anyhoo that's chapter 2 out of 12 oh shet I don't think I'll be able to finish in time SAVE ME**

 **-MargaritaDaemonelix**


	3. Chapter 3

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 3

As your best friend paces the floor, the only idea you have left is to raid her kitchen for food.

Eve never really eats in the penthouse. Her every meal is in her brother's suites or in another part of Altera. As such, her kitchen is always loaded with food. While she frantically walks through her bedroom to the balcony and back out again, you help yourself to a pitcher of lemonade and pour out some frozen apple fries, which Eve usually loves.

"Hey Eve, mind if I steal some of your apple fries?" You ask, despite knowing roughly what the answer will be.

"Seventeen plus six, that's twenty… Twenty three…" She's still doing math. You don't know why you even bothered to ask.

You stick the apples fries in her toaster oven and set it for ten minutes before pouring yourself a glass of lemonade. Almost immediately, you spit it out into one of the sinks. Either it's been spiked, or Eve has just simply left it in her fridge for way too long. It almost tastes like a margarita at this point. Just needs a little salt rim and some mint.

You're old enough to drink, but at the same time, you're also still on duty, so you're not allowed to. Nevertheless, you pour the rest of your glass, as well as the entire pitcher, down the drain. Maybe sometime soon you'll be able to enjoy a good drink with your dad, you think as you wash out the glass and the pitcher.

You decide to make a new pitcher of lemonade. Both you and Eve have a hatred of ordering stuff from downstairs, since it means someone will have to make the trip up the fifty floors to get to her penthouse. As you juice a lemon, Eve comes into the kitchen, evidently following the scent of her apple fries.

"Did you solve the thing?" You ask, stirring the lemonade with a wooden spoon.

Eve sighs. "The result came to zero," she reports as she opens a jar of mayonnaise and scoops a dollop into a small bowl, sticking the spoon in her mouth afterwards. "I don't know why my brother sends me such trivial things," she says, biting on the spoon to keep it from falling. "There are many things I still have to learn, but simple math is not one of them."

Simple your ass. The problem he gave her had fifteen parts, and took two pages to be printed out, double sided. The two of you silently prepare the food as the timer on the toaster over ticks into oblivion.

Eve's brother had the toaster oven hauled up and installed so that it would be convenient for her to reheat food, should she be hungry. What he didn't realize was that the oven had two sound effects to show that the time was up. One was a loud "BEEP BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP BEEP". The other was an oddly off tune playing of Mary Had a Little Lamb. It got on her nerves, so Eve hooked it up to her computer and messed around with the settings. She even recorded a sound clip from you for it.

When the timer finally ends, instead of the creepy minor-key nursery rhyme, your own voice is the one yelling out.

"EVE, YOUR APPLE FRIES!"

Eve really does have an apple fry obsession.

You turn off the toaster oven and pull the freshly baked slices out of the oven. The entire baking plate is still too hot to handle, so you scoop the fries out of the plate with the same spoon you used to stir with lemonade with. You're too lazy to get a new one, anyhow.

Eve is already in her bedroom, sitting on her bed as her hunting birds, Moby and Remy, dance around her. They've been with her since the two of you were children, and they've been very close to you since you met them. The two of them have stark, different personalities, which is quite clear when you see them Eve playing with them. Moby is the shy one, Remy is the brash one. Moby is a wanderer. Remy is an adventurer.

The two birds fly to hover around you as you take the apple fries and lemonade to Eve's room. She's sitting crosslegged on her bed, setting up her laptop to watch something. "Your apple fries, milady," you joke, offering the platter to her.

She picks one up, does a little curtsey, and dips it in the bowl of mayonnaise. "Thank you, my knight in white armor," she replies.

Just like that, your heart wrenches into a million pieces. You'll never be her knight in shining armor. Your armor isn't shining as brightly as she'd like. You'll never be good enough for her.

There's a notification in her emails. "Ooh, Nova's new job path has been released!" You gasp. "Descended Angel and Regal Comet."

Eve opens the link. Neither of you really play the game anymore, but you do have friends who still play that constantly tell you about the new characters. Nova was released to your server just a month and a half ago, and her final job path has already been released, which is a small wonder. Usually it takes about half a year for the final job path to appear, even on your server, which is the fastest to update.

The video, which the link brought you to, is short, but explains her playstyle effectively. Nova is a melee character, with incredible aerial mobility but low physical defense and health points. Out of her three job paths, you've only ever played the first, Kaleidoscope Queen. You heard that the second, Eternal Phantom, was incredibly powerful though. Your friend in Ruben plays Eternal Phantom.

And Eve… Eve hasn't played the game in nearly half a year. You wonder if she still even remembers it at all.

By the time the video ends, Eve has already eaten about half the apple fries, and is mopping up the bowl of mayonnaise with another. "Do you want some lemonade, Eve?" You ask, having retrieved both your mugs from the kitchen.

"Yes, please," she says, but grabs the pitcher from behind you and pours one herself. Lemonade sloshes over the side of the pitcher and hits her clean bedsheets, but she doesn't react at all. Superficial mistakes, as you have learned, don't bother her anymore.

As the two of you enjoy the remnants of the apple fries and lemonade, Eve slips on her beloved black hoodie. The two of you bought matching hoodies when you were younger, a black one for her and a white one for you. At the time, you didn't expect to shoot up so tall, so both of you bought the size small. It still fits Eve, which you think is a small wonder.

You struggle to wear it, though. Your dad always said he was a late bloomer, and so are you. At the age of fifteen, Eve was two centimetres taller than you. Less than a year later, you were tall enough to rest your chin on her head.

Sometimes, you wonder if growing up was for better or for worse.

As the two of you begin watching ASMR cooking videos, though, you can feel Eve slowly droop, laying her head on your shoulder gently. "You can go home now, Chung," she says, grasping for her laptop and missing. "I'll take a nap."

Gently, you let her down and close her laptop screen for her. "This _is_ my home," you remind her, but her soft breathing tells you that she's already fast asleep.

Out of habit, you pull the covers over her shoulders and lightly kiss her forehead before putting her laptop on her desk and turning off the artificial lights. There's a single apple fry left in the bowl, which you pop into your mouth as you take the bowls and pitcher away.

Just a year ago, her maid would have done these things for her, but after her mysterious disappearance, you've fallen back into the cycle of caring for Eve's every need yourself. "Have a nice nap," you tell her before leaving.

You know she can't hear you, but you tell her anyways, because you need to let her know you care. As quietly as you can, you slip out of her room, closing the door behind you.

All your gear is still at the door, where you left it. You tug on the boots, then the shoulder pads, then the gauntlets, and finally you heave your launcher over your shoulder. When you leave, you close the door as softly as you can.

The first person you see in the hallway is, thankfully, your dad. "Morning, Chung," he says warmly, ruffling your hair like he always does. "Is Eve alright?"

"She's taking an early nap," you tell him, trying to rub your hair back into place. "She said I could go back to my quarters."

Your dad laughs. "Strong little missy," he chuckles. "Well, I'll be in the next office if you need me."

"Bye dad," you offer, but he's already turning the corner, disappearing from your sight.

The next person you meet is less friendly. Out of all the people you could have met in the elevator, Eve's fiance is not one you had expected, nor one you wanted to meet. "Morning, Kim," you manage as respectfully as you can.

It's like he doesn't care for his hair at all. You're tempted to snip off his unruly white locks yourself. "Good morning, Seiker," he greets, giving you a wry grin. "I assume you're leaving Evangeline's penthouse?"

"Yes." You give the shortest response possible. "By the way, have you taken a look at Nova's new job path?"

Add's purple eyes flicker with excitement. "A bodyguard shouldn't be playing such childish games anymore," he chides, voice covered in bitter sugar. "But yes, Regal Comet does look interesting so far."

He pushes past you. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm visiting my fiancee," he tells you, not bothering to even address you.

The fact that Eve's resting right now registers in your mind. You've never trusted Add with her, and you never will. "Miss Eve would prefer to not be bothered right now," you tell him, turning around in the hallway.

You're not quite as tall as Add, but you're tall enough to glare at him in the eye when he turns back. "Why?" He asks. "For what reason does she prefer to not be bothered? Perhaps you've forgotten, Seiker; I am her fiance."

You're about to chuck your launcher into his gut when the two of you are torn away from each other. As you rub your now sore shoulder, your dad comes into view. "Boys, what seems to be the matter?" Asks your dad, his arms crossed over his chest. He's a naturally tall man, and dwarfs Add by at least a foot.

(you'd probably be just as tall as he is, but your mom was a very petite woman.)

"Sir Seiker, your son was barring me from visiting my fiance," explains Add, "on the account that she doesn't want to be bothered right now."

"In all fairness, that's the truth, Mr. Kim," you say through gritted teeth.

Your dad stares the both of you down, which is a skill you think he must have learned from years of teaching at the academy in Hamel. "Add, I know you want to visit Lady Evangeline, but she is resting right now," he says. "And Chung, by all means you should not be barring Lady Evangeline's fiance from visiting her."

Add looks triumphant. "Thank you, sir," he says. "I guess I'll be visiting Evangeline now-"

Your dad clamps his hand on Add's shoulder. "She's taking a nap," he says. "You know how she is when you wake her up suddenly."

It's a small victory, but it's nonetheless a victory. As Add gives you the evil eye and heads back down the elevator, you can't help but feel a little proud.

* * *

As if your spat with Add in the hallway wasn't bad enough, your dad sent you back to your own quarters to "reflect on yourself", as he put it.

You lived with your dad up until you started being Eve's bodyguard, at which point you were given a room one floor below hers. Eve has petitioned multiple times to her brother for you to just move into her penthouse, but Adam Nasod seems to be quite against the idea of his sister living with someone of the opposite gender, even if said person is her childhood friend.

Maybe even one of her only friends.

So you make your room as similar to Eve's as possible. You put your sofa-bed and TV in t living room the same way they're arranged in Eve's living room. Your bedroom is just like hers, with the bed in the corner and all the pillows stacked together. Your desk is just like Eve's, opposite from your bed, and your bookshelf next to the desk has all of your favourite books, and all of hers.

The moment you enter your apartment, you toss your boots off to the side and loosen your tie. It's odd to you that your uniform is white and blue, but your tie is cherry red. You don't have the power or authority to question it, though. You shrug off the rest of your armor, first the shoulder pads, then the gauntlets. The Kevlar underneath your blue vest and black pants you leave on, if only because it's a hassle to get it back on.

Your armor goes into the closet, where microbots clean it with fine motors and tiny brushes. Each individual piece is hung up on its own hook, so when the need arises, you can simply press a button and immediately be fully outfitted.

Finally, you leave your rocket launcher in the closet as well. Your dad firmly believes that having a ranged weapon with the ability to act as a shield is crucial in being a bodyguard. Your rocket launcher is incredibly heavy, but you've gotten used of it. The full set of armor is just as heavy, especially when you've got ammo stored all over.

The rocket launcher is a model called the Destroyer, of a discontinued assembly line. The Destroyer series was designed to prevent gunpowder from into crevices and causing the launcher to explode during combat at close quarters. Instead of using gunpowder, it uses a source of energy known as the Disfrozen.

Disfrozen was designed by scientists in Altera, and Elder, where it was produced. Using thermal energy, it could fire rockets and bullets more efficiently than any other rocket launcher on the market at the time.

Then someone stole the complex formula for the Disfrozen catalyst, and suddenly all the production lines were halted in fear of the formula being altered and causing a thermal crisis. Your Destroyer, along with your dad's, are two of a few surviving Destroyers still being used.

You used to love telling that story to the other trainees in Hamel. That got you nowhere, only scars and a few burns from having your own thermal energy used to power your weapon.

You didn't have any real friends until you met Eve. Back in Hamel, you had only a few friends you were close to. There was a girl named Lucy, a shy girl who sewed clothing and baked cookies for the trainees in her free time. There was Camilla, a young woman about five years older than you, who worked in Altera and hardly ever came home, but brought back stories and delightful candies. And then there was Penensio, your instructor at the military academy, who had worked alongside your dad at some point.

You'd never really made any friends with the other boys your age in military training, though. There were some boys you spoke to and had lunch with, but at the end of the day, you didn't really want to deal with them. You can barely even remember most of their names.

Moving to Altera to become Eve's bodyguard was a blessing. You and four other boys your age-Louis, Oscar, Jakob and William-had been chosen to protect the Commander's younger sister. Everyone at the time had shot you dirty looks, because your dad was-and still is-the man with the highest military rank possible in Hamel. Everyone figured there was something up. Even you knew that your dad had probably arranged for you to become Eve's bodyguard on special premises.

All five of you kept your distance from Eve for the first year or so. That was when you were about nine.

The year you turned ten, there was an assassination attempt. A group of armed individuals infiltrated the tall building called Altera Core, and instead of targeting Adam Nasod, they tried to take his nine-year old sister, Eve.

You'll never forget that day for as long as you live. You heard sirens, and by the time you rushed upstairs to Eve's penthouse, the intruders were already dragging her limp form out.

You remember screaming. So much screaming. It was probably you yourself screaming, now that you think back on it. You remember watching Eve wake up in a trance, staring at the blood staining her snow-white clothes. You remember bashing your Destroyer into someone's head, and being horrified at the sheer thought of having killed someone.

You remember seeing the other boys come upstairs after you'd secured the other would-be assassins. You remember carrying Eve downstairs to her brother's suites. You remember being interrogated by Adam, then Penensio, then your dad.

Both you and Eve still have scars from that attack.

After that, the other boys slowly disappeared from Altera. You heard from a maid that William got sent to Ruben at some point when you were thirteen, and that Louis ended up in Sander, but you haven't gotten word of them since.

You got to know Eve better slowly after the assassination attempt. Her first words to you after the incident were a quiet "thank you". Little by little, you got to learn more about her. How she loved apple fries and Earl Grey. How she'd never harm a soul, how she adored her brother.

You learned more about her after her brother decided to drop her in a politically-arranged marriage at the age of 15. Things like the way her hair always smells like lavender. The clothes she likes to wear to formal events. The way her beautiful orange eyes swim in honey when she wants to cry.

You were there when her parents left her, and in turn, she was there for her when your mom left you, offering you a rare shoulder to cry on when the rest of the world expected you to be stoic.

Eve was the one to introduce you to the MMORPG that you quite enjoy now. Even though it bothers you that she added her fiance to your guild(and the fact that her fiance even plays this game) you still love it.

You don't play as much these days, though, because there's so much salt in the arena, and there haven't been any new dungeons released in a while. Your main is at the level cap, but most of your characters are at varying levels that are much lower.

The one good thing you got out of this game was a friend. RuneSlayer12, or RS as people call him, was one of the highest ranking players on your server. You encountered him many times in the arena, until one day, he began chatting with you via the game's chatbx. Apparently he and this girl who went by ElementalMaster33 were in the same guild until both of them got kicked out, so you ran by Eve to make sure it was okay to add them to yours.

RS is a cool guy. Knowing him as who he really is-Elsword Sieghart from Ruben- is even cooler. Apparently EM got kicked out of her own house and she now lives with him. He's one of your few sources of information on the outside world. Maybe he doesn't know anything about your caste and your occupation, but maybe that's for the better.

He hasn't been online for a few days, but now he is, and by the looks of it, he has an urgent message for you. You open the chat client the both of you use and log in.

RS: CHUNG CHUNG CHUNG

RS. ANSWER ME CHUNG

TT: If this is about Nova's new job path, I'm not interested.

RS: WHAT NO

RS: ALTHOUGH TO BE FAIR REGAL COMET IS PRETTY CRAPPY IN COMPARISON TO ETERNAL PHANTOM

RS: I MEAN HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN HER HYPERACTIVE? SHE LOSES INVINCIBILITY IMMEDIATELY

TT: If you can throw in a mana potion or complete recovery potion you can start spamming her other skills.

RS: THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT, EVEN THOUGH ETERNAL PHANTOM REALLY NEEDS TO BE NERFED.

TT: You play EP and you want her to be nerfed?

RS: DID YOU SEE THE THING ON TV THE OTHER DAY

You're confused. What happened on TV? Did someone fart during Adam Nasod's last speech? Did that one show with the robot lions that Eve really likes come back for a third season?

You can't let Elsword know that though.

TT: I heard about it! Didn't see it myself though

RS: OH EL BLESS.

RS: YOU'D HAVE LOST THE LAST SHREDS OF YOUR INNOCENCE IF YOU'D WATCHED IT.

TT: Explain.

RS: OKAY SO THEY WERE LIVE BROADCASTING COMMANDER NASOD'S SPEECH RIGHT

(well that explains why you didn't watch it; you were on the set of the speech)

RS: AND THEN IT JUST GOES DARK

RS: AND THIS GUYS STARTS TALKING

RS: AND THEN THEY PUT ON THE PICTURE OF THE HEAD LIBRARIAN AT THE SANDER ARCHIVES

RS: AND THEN

RS: OH. MY. EL.

RS: THEY KILLED HER, CHUNG

RS: LIKE, THEY RIPPED OUT ALL HER HAIR AND EVERYTHING

RS: I'M GETTING SICK JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

RS: just... ugh

RS: but yeah thank el you didn't see it

Your eyes widen with each coming message. The Head Librarian at the Imperial Sander Archives? Dead? Murdered in cold blood? How could someone with such an important position have lacked the protection in an attack?

Then it hits you. There was no one there to protect her.

Whoever ordered her assassination was a higher rank than she was. Even Sander isn't safe anymore.

You attempt to type a response to Elsword's words, but you delete each comment as it comes along. He must have seen the little bubbles that pop up each time you type, because after a few minutes, he responds first.

RS: I know. Really fucked up, isn't it.

TT: Why... Just why? Does no one in the higher castes have any form of morality anymore?

RS: I hope they do.

RS: EM's theory is that the head librarian knew things that she wasn't supposed to know.

RS: So they took her out.

RS: Don't think about it. for now, we're still safe

RS: unless the government is monitoring us right now

RS: in which case Hey folks up there in Altera, we're just having a civil conversation we don't intend to end up like the Head Librarian, plz don't murder us, thank you

You can't help but snort. The stories about Altera monitoring all digital conversations are simply myths. No one in Altera has the time or energy to be doing such things, and even the most advanced AI can fail in the face of understanding slang.

Your friend doesn't know that, of course.

For his own sake, though, you need to let him know eventually. In the event that something does happen, the both of you will need backup. Eve is mere putty in her brother's hand, as much as she hates to admit it.

Speaking of Eve, she's online again. Her monicker, BattleSeraph01, has given her nickname "Princess Bullshit", which she usually responds to with a swift smack to the face, an insult, or, when her brother brought it up, a glare. She's got an urgent message for you, blinking in the soft pink she sets her theme colour as.

You turn back to your conversation with Elsword.

TT: I g2g, stay safe.

RS: you too, my dude.

Immediately, you turn to your conversation with Eve. Since you spend most of your time with her anyways, the two of you hardly ever use the chat. It's mostly filled with her asking you to pick up more apple fries, or you asking her what her brother changed the wifi password to.

The message today is oddly serious, though.

BS: Chung, you must come upstairs at once.

BS: I have received word that my brother has found our blueprints for our biggest plan.

BS: He is not aware that we concocted such a plan, however.

BS: Further action must take place immediately.

It takes you a while to decypher. You and Eve never made any blueprints together, but you have had little projects. Project Mintbox, for example, was a plan the two of you made to smuggle a pair of laser pistols up from Adam Nasod's arsenal, for protection in the event of another attack. It went fairly successfully-the two of you were caught in the act, but Adam Nasod approved of the plan nonetheless, and Eve received formal training to work the weaponry.

Your biggest plan ever was codenamed Project Crescent. A project to rescue a person-Eve's former maid. You and Eve risked so much to get her maid out of Altera… To think that Adam had found her, to think that all of Eve's careful planning and hard work had gone to waste...

TT: Copy that, milady. I will be there shortly.

* * *

 **A/N: I needed something to take my mind off the elections, and I don't even live in the states...**

 **This was by far the easiest chapter for me to write, possibly because I'm familiar with writing Eve and Chung already.**

 **Also shameless self plug for my OC Nova find her on my dA I haven't actually drawn much Nova in a while welp**

 **A special thank you to users _Ducky and Izzy_ , _Amy Valikie_ and guest user _EternaPhoenix_ for reviewing! Your support keeps me going! Please review and tell me where I can improve as a writer!**

 **Stay safe, my friends!**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	4. Chapter 4

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 4

Running into a Hamel Navy Officer was not how you planned to start your day. Then again, life in Ruben is hardly ever predictable.

Your wakeup call today is not Elsword. One of the chickens somehow got inside, and is standing on your chest you when you open your eyes, causing you to scream and roll off the bed.

Chicken feathers are all over your covers and floating through the air when Elsword comes to see what happened. The chicken is still running around in frantic circles, screaming bloody murder as it hops across your work and on the bed.

Elsword looks like he's trying not to laugh. "I'm not a chicken whisperer, but I'm fairly certain that "squawk-a-doodle-doo" means the chicken is scared," he chuckles, picking up the chicken as it runs by and cradling it like a baby. "Did the mean old lady scare you?"

"Me? Scare a chicken?" You scoff as you climb back onto the bed. "Nonsense. Besides, since when was I an old lady?"

He sticks his tongue out at you. "I'm still five months younger than you, old lady," he says playfully, leaving with the now pacified chicken still in his arms. As the door opens, the scent of instant coffee and warm bread floats into the bedroom.

Elsword's mom makes the best bread in the world, you decide as you comb through your tangled hair with your fingers and tie it off in in two scraggly bunches. You'll comb it properly later, but now, all you really have the mental ability to do is to toss on a purple turtleneck sweater and slip into a gray skirt.

As you mindless repeat the actions of every Wednesday morning, Elsword reads out the morning paper. "So apparently they've traced down the guy who did the thing on TV the other day," he says. "Someone from Velder?"

"It can't be, it's only been three days," you argue. "Remember the scandal with the newspaper last April? They said they caught the people who did it, but it took them like two months just to find the server where the article had been altered."

Your roommate nods. "If I had to place my bets…" He thinks for a moment. "Untraceable server or already destroyed computer. Altera knows they can't solve this one, so they're lying about it. Covering things up."

"If they'd actually caught the guy, Velder probably wouldn't exist right now," you add.

The two of you sit in silence, eating your respective shares of the last of Anne's bread. Even though it's a little stale, it's still delicious and smells like the bread from the bakeries in your hometown. When you dip it into your instant coffee, you can see the little oil flowers it leaves on the surface of your beverage.

While Elsword cleans up the dishes from breakfast, you look through the papers you've marked. You have nineteen students in your class, and impressive number in comparison to Bethma, where you had four students at your peak. More students does mean more work, though. You often stay up marking late into the night, but you always return on weekdays to teach them the best you can.

Out of your nineteen students, the oldest is ten and the youngest is four. The younger ones are still struggling to write simple words, but the older ones are beginning to read some of your favourite novels. Thankfully, math comes a little easier to them all, and each of your students is filled with the curiosity and will to learn. All of them are such angels, and none of them have ever given you grief.

You go through each of the test papers, ensuring that all of them are marked and the marks recorded on a separate sheet. One of the eight-year old girls, who normally scores in the high nineties or gets full marks, has the equivalent of a fifty-three percent on this test. You'll have to ask her about it later.

Gently, you put the stack into your cloth bag, leaving it by the door. You head to the kitchen and open the fridge, where you take out a cheese sandwich you made last night and stuck in a plastic baggie. You toss the sandwich at your bag. It hits the wall and bounces onto the floor.

This is what happens when you're overworked and just tired. You lose control of yourself in every sense of the word. You know you have no sense of aim, and yet you threw the sandwich anyways.

Mother would be disappointed, you think as you walk over and bend down to retrieve your fallen lunch. Your mother was a strict woman, but her teaching shaped you into who you are today.

Without her influence these past few years, though, you're losing control over yourself. Sometimes, you think you're letting your fatigue take control of you, despite all your efforts to contain it.

As much as you hate to admit it, you're fighting a losing battle.

Just once, you want to be able to sleep comfortably in a soft bed, wrapped in the warmth of someone's love.

 _Love isn't important, Aisha. You're too young to know what love is._

You shake your mother's voice out of your head. She's gone, and you've left Bethma behind you. You're a grown woman.

 _Grow up, Aisha…_

When Elsword finally comes out of the shower, you're sprawled out across the bed, reciting lesson plans and snippets from Tolkien's books. "Your turn, Grape," he says, shaking the water out of his hair and spraying it everywhere. The only time it ever stays down is when there's water in it, and even then, you can hardly ever get it to stay put.

You swing your foot at him. He dashes off into the living room, towel still on his head.

As you walk into the bathroom, locking the door behind you, you finally get to see just how sleep deprived you look. Not that you aren't sleep deprived-you have an average of two hours of sleep a night. Your hair is a lot more tangled than you thought it was, so you grab the nearest comb and sprinkle some water on it before running it through your hair.

Elsword must have just used it, because once you're done, there are telltale strands of his red hair trapped in your purple hair. As you brush your teeth, you pull the loose hairs out of your pigtails and retie them, making sure they're smooth and you look presentable.

You're running out of soap. You add _buy soap_ to your mental to-do list as you pick up the little slice that's left and rub it between your hands, scrubbing the few suds on your face.

You clean up the water all over the counter and wipe down the mirror before leaving the bathroom. Elsword has already left for the farm, so you're the only one left in the house. You open your rickety closet and retrieve a pair of dark socks. As you sit down and pull the socks onto your feet, your eyes goes wide at the time.

Seven thirty. Class starts at eight.

You scramble to grab the keys and your bag, and toss on a light jacket. One of your socks is only half pulled up, but at this point you're running to get to class. Since you don't have a car, you can only walk or run to the school, which can take forty-five minutes on a bad day. Thankfully, the skies only look gloomy, not particularly stormy, and you're pretty sure you can get to the school in time to greet your class.

It takes you about a minute to lock the door alone, because Elsword's parents insisted on installing five different locks when the two of you moved in. There's an ID card lock too, but you can't lock it because your actual ID card is busted. You're listed as "Missing, presumed dead" in the official engine, because the police back in Bethma never found you after the mess of your moveout. Your forged ID card has you as "Speka Cerise", which was the name of your estranged aunt.

Your mother's younger sister was eccentric, to say the least. Your aunt wasn't a bad person, she was just… Imaginative. She was clinically bipolar and it drove your mother mad. Eventually, she immersed herself way too far into her own thoughts, and in a move that tore your family apart, she jumped off the roof, taking her own life when you were twelve.

She wasn't a bad woman. While your mother gave you knowledge, Speka taught you freedom. As you tear through the streets of Ruben, trying not to destroy your black shoes, you remember how she taught you to slip through throngs of people virtually unnoticed.

You're still stuck in a crowd near the old town hall, though. There's some sort of a free handout there today. Even though you don't necessarily want or need it, the town hall is still on the way to your schoolhouse. There's a wild stampede of desperate hands rushing to grab whatever the officers have to hand out.

You can't go through the crowd, so you need to find another path. Leaving the crowd behind, you turn behind the old building, clutching your bag tightly to make sure you don't lose it in the mess. You scramble into the alleyway, struggling to keep your balance and not crash into walls.

As you turn the corner, your sight of vision suddenly disappears into a field of white and gold. You feel the impact after you find yourself sitting on the ground, your bag miraculously still on you.

There's someone standing above you, laughing gently. "What do we have here?" He says, helping you to your feet. "On the go, are we, miss?"

There's a badge on his shoulder. You instantly recognise the flowing crest of the Hamel Navy. There's an assortment of badges pinned to his lapel, a splash of colour against his white uniform. A plaque on his chest reads _TAYLOR_. What a Hamel Navy officer is doing in Ruben, you have no clue, but you really can't be bothered with him.

"If you'd excuse me, sir, I really need to get to work," you mutter, ducking away and past him. Of all the things to happen, though, your bag hooks onto something as you pass by him.

"What's your name, miss?" He asks, and you realise that _he's holding onto your bag_. You try to tug it out of his grasp, but he doesn't let go. "C'mon, tell me."

"My name's Speka Cerise," you lie, though the name comes naturally to you. "I'm a black mage. If you keep holding onto my bag like that, I'm going to hex you."

His boisterous laughter echoes through the alleyway. "Well, that's a shame," he says, "because I'd have to bring you in for questioning." His grip on your bag gets tighter, he steps closer to you, and your hand instinctively goes to your pocket. "What do you say, miss Speka?"

"No," you tell him as firmly as you can muster. "I'm going to actually hex you. Last warning. Get. The. Fuck. Off. Me."

"Missy, do you really have the power to say that?" He asks, reaching out to touch your face. "Come with me. I'll pay you better than whatever job you have."

 _Aisha, men in this world are going to try and take advantage of you. Don't let them get near you._

If there's one good thing your mother taught you, it's that men are pigs. Your aunt Speka always had a weapon on her at all times, and though Ruben is a lot safer than Bethma, you still carry the little canister she gave you on your person.

Officer Taylor only looks mildly surprised when you feebly attempt to kick him in the gut. "Feisty, aren't you," he purrs, drawing his hand away. "We'll have to take care of you somehow."

In the moment it takes for him to speak, you flick the cap off the aerosol can in your pocket. Screwing your eyes shut, you estimate where his face is and spray.

It's not pepper spray, but getting dry shampoo in your eyes is just as painful. As the officer lets go of your bag, clutching his eyes and stumbling into the walls in agony, you run. You can't look back, your feet are on fire, and you have no clue where you're going, but you run.

You're maybe a hundred feet away from the schoolhouse when you hear the bell ring. _Great. Just what I needed to top off this morning's excitement._

As you stumble into the classroom, your students look at you in awe. You're not normally late, so they're pretty surprised. "Miss Cerise, what's with the holdup?" Asks one of the older boys.

The question is genuine, though. There's none of the hooting from the boys in the back today. The classroom is dead silent. "Good morning, class," you say, as professionally as you possibly can. "I was held up by the crowd outside the old town hall this morning. I hope all of you are present and ready to learn, because I have some new books that I've brought in."

A ripple of light laughter cascades through the class. Everyone's so excited for new books, and it instantly lifts all of your spirits. As you read the attendance, you hand out the results of the last test.

"Brian," you call out, eyes trained on your attendance sheet as you hold the marked test out in front of you.

"Present, miss," replies Brian, his tiny hand shooting up to take the test. An eighty-six is a huge achievement for him, so you hope he's happy with it.

"Phoebe."

"Present." The quiet girl stands up to take her test. Again, she aced it. She solemnly nods at the test paper before sitting down.

You wince a little. "Alexandra?"

She comes up slowly, dragging her feet behind her. You know that she knows perfectly well what her mark is, but you don't question it as you keep your pokerface and let her take the test paper.

As you stare at your attendance, you can't help but notice her attempt to smile at Kaitlyn on her way back to her seat.

Something is bothering this girl, and you need to find out what.

You set up the class in their activities. The younger ones begin their day with math, while the older ones start with classic literature. Brendan is ecstatic when you retrieve your personal copy of _Time Trouble_ from your bag.

"I've read this so many times," he gushes, jumping up and down as he cradles the book in his arms. "This is my favourite book ever."

"Great," you tell him, wincing at the grammar. "Then I'm sure you'll do fine giving a quick book talk about it for the rest of the class, let's say, tomorrow?"

His face falls, but he picks it back up and grins at you. "Of course, miss Cerise!"

As he cracks open the book, his expression turns to one of awe. "Oh, miss Cerise, did someone give you this book?" He asks.

Ah, yes. Your mother gave it to you when you turned thirteen. In Bethma, the two of you weren't stable financially, so books were the only thing she could give you. They were also the only thing she would give you, because in her words, knowledge is the foundation of everything. Her little notes on the inside covers of your books kept you awake many a night, wondering about your own existence.

"Yes," you say, trying to smile. "My mother wrote this. You can read it if you want."

Brendan smiles. "Dearest Aisha…" His voice falls. "I'm assuming that was your nickname." When you nod in confirmation, he keeps reading. "I hope you enjoy this novel as I have. It was released when I was your age. I remember buying it the day it was released in our local bookstore…"

You can't stay and listen to the words you've repeated to yourself a hundred million times. Instead, you turn your focus back to the younger kids, who are hard at work crunching numbers.

As you walk through your classroom, you look over each student's shoulder to see how they're doing. As expected, Phoebe is already done the first page and is working on the second. Nicholas is on the sixth question, Brian is racing with him at the fifth.

Only Alexandra's page remains blank. She stares down into the workpage, her eyes a million miles away. She's deep in thought.

You know Alexandra's imaginative, but you need to see what's bothering her.

"Alexandra," you say softly, laying your hand on her shoulder, "do you want to have a chat with me? We can talk about your test."

She turns her bright green eyes to look at you. "Yes, please," she says.

The entire class has gone silent again. Brendan has stopped reading. The group of teens gathered around him have all turned their gaze to you. Yet you lead Alexandra by the hand into the hallway, where the two of you sit with your backs against the wall.

"How did I get a fifty-three?" She whispers, hands folded delicately in her lap.

"Alexandra, you're a very smart girl," you remind her. "You're not going to fail because of this."

"Yes I am!" Her lip trembles, and you're afraid she's going to cry. "When I go home, my mom's going to be mad at me for having such a horrible mark, and then she's going to yell at me, and throw the photo album again, and then she's going to cry-"

"Hold on, back up," you tell her, holding her by the shoulders and gently shushing her. "Tell me why your mom is going to be mad."

Alexandra's mother is a kind woman who'd never treat her daughter like this. There was once when she brought home a failing grade for not completing an entire page of the test and she didn't even bat an eye. There's no reason for her to be yelling at her talented daughter.

She gulps. "My mom has to work," she says, tears beginning to roll down her face, "and I can't give her more trouble than I already have."

"Can't your dad work?" You ask. "Your dad is a nice guy. I've met him."

She shakes her head. "They took him," she sobs. "The Alterans took him."

It's sudden, but it hits you like a punch to the stomach. "When was this? Why did they take him?" You ask.

"It was two weeks ago," whispers Alexandra. "They had a peaceful protest up in Elder, trying to get lower taxes on things like clothes and food. Then the Alterans came and took everyone away and locked them all up…" She draws her knees up to her chest and buries her face in her arms. "They took my dad away and we don't know where he is…"

The Alterans. You should have known that the death of the head librarian wasn't the end. Alexandra's father and the rest of the protestors are probably gone, if not locked up in the prisons of Lanox. You wonder if Alexandra will ever be the same.

"I'll try to look into the systems for your father," you promise. "And I'll have a talk with your mother when I can. Right now, I need you to do your best, okay? Your father's going to come home to see your marks soar through the roof."

She wipes her tears and smiles weakly. "Yeah."

When the two of you return to the class, it's still dead silent. Brendan has dropped the book. Paulina, Cicero and Puris are sitting on their desks. Phoebe is chewing the eraser on the end of her pencil.

"Get back to work," you snap as Alexandra returns to her seat. "Pick up the book, if you just drop it like that you're going to destroy its spine."

Class goes on like usual. At recess, you review the test with Alexandra, and you give her an improvised mark of seventy after you test her again. It still brings her average down, but at least this time it's not down in the low eighties.

After recess, you bandage up Jordan's knee as Cicero apologizes profusely(apparently they were playing tag and Cicero was it) and bring your class together for a history lesson. As you tell stories of ancient Elrios, Kaitlyn brings up fairy tales of her childhood, of the warrior party that saved Elrios from a demon invasion. You're pretty sure you've seen that one somewhere, but Kaitlyn's retelling is beautiful and has a lot more smacking than it probably should have.

You've just dismissed your class for recess after lunch when someone knocks on the door. "Come in," you say, wrapping your sandwich back up and putting it back into your bag. Maybe it's one of your students, here for some review.

"Miss Cerise, I didn't know you were a teacher."

Instantly, you bare your teeth and growl at your visitor. "I told you I'm not interested!"

Officer Taylor smirks. "You assaulted a Hamelian," he drawls. "I could have you arrested right here, and send you off to Lanox. Does a high-security prison sound more appealing than this?"

When he gestures to himself, you feel like throwing up. "For the last time," you hiss, "I will have you removed from my classroom. This is a learning environment, and I will not tolerate your intrusion."

"Get over here," he growls, lunging at you. As you scramble over your desk and plow into Phoebe's, the older kids outside seem to catch sight of the mess you've gotten yourself into. You hear Paulina scream as Brendan, Puris and Cicero rush in.

Taylor's still trying to catch you. You're not wearing your jacket, though, so you can't just blast him with high-pressured perfume. "Miss Cerise!" Yells Brendan, trying to grab onto Taylor's jacket and missing.

As you pass by your desk again, you grab your bag, opening it to find your final resort. Your father was a low-ranking policeman in Bethma, and after his death, you and your mother kept some of his weapons.

Brendan seems to be faster than Cicero, and snatches Taylor's jacket up. Cicero pins him down, but he thrashes wildly and gets back up. Puris stands by the doorway, her eyes screwed shut.

Then, in an absolutely uncalled movement, she races over to Cicero's side and slams Taylor to the wall. You'd have never thought that such a delicate girl could be so destructive, but their strength is yours for the moment.

"Hands off him," you order the students. The moment they release Taylor, you drive your taser into his chest. The electricity skitters down his outfit as his eyes bug out and his limbs go stiff.

As the four of you step aside, Taylor falls to the ground, limp.

Paulina rushes in to examine him. You're only now aware that the entire class has gathered to watch the events. As she feels his neck and wrists, her face falls. "He has no pulse," she announces.

 _Holy fuck. You just killed a man._

You put the cap back on your taser and gently tuck it back into your bag. You walk over to the desk, slipping into your jacket. Your class watches you wordlessly.

"Class is dismissed," you manage.

Then, like a coward, you run. Again.

* * *

 _7:45 pm, Ruben_

You're legitimately exhausted when you return home. It's not that you're physically tired-you barely did any grunt work today. Ally dropped the box of receipts and records on the staircase, though, and the two of you spent the entire day sifting them out. There's still about fifty pages of receipts that you have even touched.

When Banthus came in to check on the two of you and found the both of you staring blankly at the folders scattered across the desk, he ordered both of you back home. Although it was kind for him to give you a bonus paycheck for your trouble, you have little to no mental strength. The most thanks you could give him was a grunt.

The first thing that strikes you as odd when you return to your apartment is the fact that the door is wide open. It swings eerily, screeching as it opens up for you. Aisha's book bag is wide open on the floor, its contents strewn throughout the living room.

"Aisha?" You call out, scanning the apartment over. The only source of light you can see by is from the hallway. There's no sign of your roommate. "AISHA!"

There's a faint semblance of a mumble from the bedroom. You run in to find her clothes in a heap by the door. She's curled up on the floor, wearing an old dress. Her knees are drawn up to her chest and her hair is flying across her shoulders, but you can't help but notice that her hands are covered in bandages. She's trembling.

On the floor lies the sandwich she packed for lunch, which means it's probably been some time since she got home. She likely hasn't had any water or food since this morning.

You sit down beside her and gather her up into your arms. "Aisha, talk to me," you urge. "What happened to your hands? Did you hurt them?"

She looks down at them, at the bandages she's lazily wrapped up to her elbows. "I burned them," she whispers, her eyes glazed over. "I wasn't looking where I was pouring hot water, and I burned them."

"Aisha…" You grab her hands. Even now, you can feel them burning in yours. "Can your move them?"

She responds by flexing each finger in turn and turning her wrists. "My hands are fine," she says, repeating it like a mantra. "My hands are fine."

You can tell she's lying. You knew she used to have a lot of destructive habits, but after she moved in with you, she'd stopped. Something must have happened, something that shocked her. "Aisha. Aisha, talk to me," you say, shaking her by the shoulders. "What happened? Tell me what happened."

Aisha looks up at you, her eyes full of tears.

"I murdered a man."

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was not easy for me to write.**

 **There are many times when I tell myself that I can relate to characters on like a spiritual level, but in this chapter, I can especially relate to Aisha and her students. Alexandra's grade is a direct reflection on my own, from a test last year after something happened in my family that impacted all of us.**

 **I hope y'all have a great day, and please look forwards to the next chapter of Spectator.**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	5. Chapter 5

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 5

Life goes on in Velder where it couldn't in Altera.

You've taken every caution possible to ensure that Raven doesn't know about your years in Altera, that Velder has no clue about your experiences. Even with your interview with Vanessa, you lied so many times to ensure that no one could put the puzzle of your past together.

So when you pull up your Alteran badge one day while Raven's at work, you wonder why the hell you're even looking at it.

Missing a chunk of your memories is painful. Your earliest recallable memory is waking up one day in an Alteran hospital, surrounded by concerned women. When you couldn't recall who they were, all of them burst into tears.

You were told you had a concussion from an accident, when you fell off a balcony. Doctors swarmed you and took brain tests, gave you medications, tried to help you remember.

Once they deemed you able to think, but not able to remember, you were released from the infirmary and you spent the next few months training to become a maid. Again, they said.

Were you once a maid? You don't know.

As you kneel by the bed with your little bag of possessions open at your feet, your head begins to swim. You drop the badges back into the bag, pulling the drawstrings to tighten it as you shove it back under the bed and rest your head on the mattress. You go through a series of questions that the doctors told you to ask yourself, to see if any memories have resurfaced.

What is your name? Your name is Rena Lire.

How old are you? You're twenty-eight according to your ID card, though you only have conscious memories of the past five years since you awoke. It's like you're a five year old child, only just learning to grasp the strings of the world.

What is the earliest memory you can recall? Waking up in the hospital, five years ago. You can remember scraps of your previous life, like deja vu-a faint whiff of bread, a man with a white puppy, and a more recent moment from Raven's graduation t-shirt.

He's out. You might as well look at it.

Raven only wore the shirt for a short time before changing back into his work clothes. You tiptoe over to his drawer and open the middle layer, pulling out the black shirt and laying it out on the bed. The familiar crow printed in fading white adorns the front, but you're really looking for the back.

On the reverse side, a list of the graduates' names is printed. Some of the names you know-Raven, Noel, Praus. Your fingers linger at the name Seris. From the moment you arrived in Velder, the name stuck to you like a ghost. No one told you how Seris was, but you get the idea that she was close to Raven, and that she passed on.

There was a day, a few months back, when you were trying to sleep. Raven was coming home from having a drink at either Noel or Praus' place. You know he had a little something to drink, because he was yelling at his two best friends. As hostile as he may appear, Raven is not the type to be yelling.

 _Rena's not Seris, you two dumb fucks, she'll never be Seris, Seris didn't look like that, you didn't know Seris as well as I did…_

You shake the memory out of your head. "Where are the good memories when I need them?" You sigh, folding the shirt back up and tucking it back into Raven's drawer. Sure, most of your experiences have been fairly good since you awoke, but it's still splattered with pain and experiences that haunt you.

The best memory you can conjure up at the moment is only faint. It's mid July, and you're sitting outside in the grass, braiding flowers into hair and tying back your own as a delicate hand tucks a lily blossom behind your ear. The scent of fresh bread and open sky fills the apartment as you let yourself relax on the bed, sprawled out in the nonexistent breeze.

You may not have many memories, but you can manipulate the few that you have to your will. As you nibble your dried lips and lie back, you close your eyes for a moment and try to see the blue skies over Altera once more.

Blue skies...

You blink. You're fairly certain you just fell asleep. For how long, you're not entirely sure; the sunlight in your eyes tells you it's at least noon. You try to stifle a yawn as you force yourself to sit up, despite your back complaining that the bed is too hard.

You suppose it's your own fault for sleeping in such soft beds for so long. You're still not entirely accustomed to this one. Slowly, you get up and stretch your arms out as you walk into the kitchen.

The clock on the stove tells you it's just a little past one, which means you took a two hour catnap. There's not much in the kitchen, which is little more than a stove, a sink and a small fridge. The shelf where you keep the dishes and pans is roughly built from wooden planks, likely something that Raven himself threw together.

Unlike your old home in Altera, the fridge is too small to tack up any notes. Nonetheless, you check its barren surface. There's an old magnet that might have once said "Wednesday" on it in neon orange, but the surface has been rubbed down to the point that it's just a rectangle of dirty pink.

You open the fridge, which is nearly as empty as always. There's a glass bottle of yogurt, which you assume Raven brought home because he's the only person you know who actually likes this particular brand. You close the door gently, leaving the kitchen behind.

It's about time you get going. Raven's going to come home tonight to an empty table, and as much as you know he hates you, at the same time you feel obligated to have something for him. Maybe it's because you're living with him in this hell called Velder, maybe it's because you cause him so much pain, but you know that it's only right for you to provide what you can for him.

You head back to your bag of possessions, opening it up and retrieving two hundred dollars in twenties and tens. The Alterans hardly ever used small bills, so it was quite a hassle to get them converted from the thousands. Thankfully, nothing in Velder actually costs that much-a fresh baked bun here costs twenty tops, whereas a similar bun in Altera costs up to five hundred.

The people up there are loaded, though. Your paycheck was about five hundred thousand a year. Raven's earnings per year total about ten thousand, barely enough to cover the bills and definitely not enough for groceries and other foods. Maybe it's just because you're adding a burden on him…

You still have so much money that you haven't even shown him, because you know he'll instantly retaliate, and you want to tell him about your past in Altera on your own terms. Raven is strong, but you get the feeling that he's been broken many times.

Your cardigan is still hung up on the hook on the wall. You take it off, running your hands over it to make sure the thread hasn't caught on anything. Before you came to Velder, you had to unstitch by hand the badges that were sewn to your shoulders, which are now tucked into your bag along with all your other things. There are twelve little puncture holes in the sleeve where the badge was sewn to it, from the twelve points of the mechanical star that defines you as an Alteran.

Gently, you slip into the cardigan and take a moment to relax in its familiar warmth. You fold up the bills and put them into the pocket of your dress. Raven doesn't bring the keys with him; you just lock the door after he leaves, so you grab the keys from the nail on the wall and a cloth tote bag.

The coast seems to be clear when you open the door. You lock up before hurrying down the seven flights of stairs to the lobby. As always, it's empty, but you ignore the eerie silence as you leave the building behind.

The skies are clear today. It's pretty warm for April, but then again Velder is always pretty warm compared to Altera. That's why you're always wearing your cardigan, no matter what the weather calls for. As you tread down the rubble path, people greet you casually, and you can't help but notice how they pause a little before they speak.

Just how much did Velder love Seris? And just how much do they all resent you for not being her?

You stop by Praus' shop. He's trying to sell a bracelet to a young woman, who is wavering between her choices. "This is hand-carved mahogany, miss," he assures her.

"It doesn't smell like mahogany," she says, like she's some expert in fine wood carvings. You can tell from her tone alone that she's probably from one of the higher ranks, likely somewhere in Sander. Her clothes are just as extravagant, with layers of vibrant blues and purples layered with fiery reds and pinks. "And the colour is off."

"Miss, if I may," you interject, stepping beside her. "I can assure you that Praus' goods are all a hundred percent genuine mahogany. The craft has been passed down through his family. Many of these were carved by Praus' grandmother, which is why the scent and colour have faded over time."

Praus looks like he's about to cry.

The woman sniffs again. "Antique, you say…" She looks through the trinkets. "How much are you asking for this one?" She holds up a chain of beads.

"A hundred and thirty five," says Praus, his voice trembling.

She scoffs. "If it's mahogany as you say it is, things like this could be worth thousands where I'm from. I'll take these four," she says, picking out a bracelet and two large pendants. "A thousand."

She hands the bill over to Praus. He's shaking all over. "Thank you for your p-patronage, miss," he says. "Would you like me to wrap those up for you?"

As he takes the pieces off her, he grabs your shoulder and drags you into the house, where he immediately breaks down. "Thank you, Rena," he manages, his face buried in your shoulder. "Thank you."

"It's my duty to help you," you respond softly, catching yourself before you can say "serve you". The words are alien to you, even though you've repeated them a million times. "I had to do something, didn't I? I couldn't just leave you hanging."

You help him wrap up the jewelry in individual paper packages, slipping them into a small plastic bag and handing it back to the woman. She snatches it away and walks off wordlessly, opening each package as she turns a corner and disappears from your sight.

Behind you, Praus sighs. "Thank you." He fishes a pendant out of his pocket and presses it into your hand. It's a little bow and arrow on a black leather cord. "A little something for your trouble."

You turn around to thank him, but he's already gone back into his house, shielding his face. He's probably going to cry with his mother about the sale. She's slipping away, but she hangs on to see her son happy.

Someday, you're going to bring them somewhere better. You're going to buy the entirety of Velder all the food they need and give it all to them. You're going to do whatever you can to end the misery in the town that took you in.

 _Rena, they see you as a monster… An oppressor…_

You force yourself to ignore the voices and walk on.

As you enter the town square, though, you have to bite a curse under your breath. Noon is never a good time to visit town, because it's lunch hour and there's a mess of a struggle to buy a hot sandwich before they sell out. You try to cross the void, but eventually you're swallowed in as well.

Hands slip past your back as feet trample across yours. Hair is blown into your face as you wade through the crowd. The back of someone's head is in front of your, and a few times you nearly run face-first into people.

You spend what feels like an eternity in that mess before you finally make your way to the stand you wanted to visit. "Three potatoes, please," you ask politely.

The vendor grunts and drops three small potatoes in a plastic bag. "Twenty-four," he says. You give him a twenty and a handful of change, trying not to look so desperately at the larger potatoes in his baskets.

Your next stop is Kaeli's stand. Out of all the people in the city, Kaeli seems to be one of the few who loves you for who you are… If love is a word that can describe her. The old woman treats everyone in this city like her own child; she scolds Raven sometimes for not bagging up the loose herbs but still pampers him with freebies. Your stomach twists into a knot at the thought of her granddaughter, though. Chloe is nothing like her grandmother, after all, and couldn't care less about the city…

Today the stand is maintained by the elder Camdyn, though. "Hello, Rena," she chortles, celery in one hand and a stack of bills in the other. "You here to bring me anything new?"

"Not right now, Kaeli," you shout over the roar of the crowd. "Our new harvest hasn't finished growing yet. Do you have anything good today?"

"I got three eggplants," she yells back as she swaps goods with a young boy, "Fifty-five apiece. Someone brought in celery this morning too. Twenty five a stalk, forty for two." She pauses to wrestle a bunch of carrots out of someone's hands. "Drop the produce before I have a problem with you!"

You decide to buy an eggplant and some celery. You count out the bills in your pocket before taking them out, yelling your requests at Kaeli. She takes the money and hands you the measly groceries, which you cram into your bag as you leave the stand behind.

Thankfully, by the time you try to leave the market, the midday surge has died down a little. You're still attempting to navigate the mess, but this time you can do it without getting smacked by an errant hand. It takes you just over fifteen minutes to return to the apartment, where you climb the seven flights of stairs back to the apartment.

It takes you a moment to process it, but there are a few dark figures outside your door. When you begin to move down the hallway, one of them notices you. "Guys, she's coming," he whispers.

"Let her come," replies the one picking your lock. "I'm not afraid of her."

"Boys," you say, keeping your voice as level and as steady as possible. "I'm sure you're all great at picking locks. Could you please step aside? I need to put my groceries away and water my plants now."

"Bitch, you can stand aside and wait for us to finish," laughs one of them. "Because you sure as hell don't own this flat, so why should you care? Stand aside and we'll have some fun later."

You're not sure whether it's the beginning of his mocking statement or the end that gets on your nerves, but you snap. You gave them a warning already. They didn't heed it.

You march right into the little gang and put your foot up between the gang leader's legs. He squeaks and falls to the floor, writhing in pain.

Immediately, the group retaliates. The three remaining boys charge at you, but your instinct takes over. You swing your bag of groceries at one boy's head and spin around to knee another in the chest. Both of them stumble into the wall.

The last one stands in the hallway, looking terrified. "Get lost," you say, as cheerfully as you can. He takes off like a bullet as his friends scramble to their feet and run after him, screaming and hooting. A few of your neighbours come out of their apartments to see what's going on, but you just wave at them casually as you unlock the door and step back in.

The house is, thankfully, untouched. You were a little scared that the boys were trying to _lock_ your door instead of unlock it, but it seems you'd returned just in time to catch them in the act. You drop the bag of groceries on the table and hang your cardigan and the keys back up.

As you sit back down on the bed, you can't help but put your head in your hands. It's only noon, and you already feel like shit.

You don't know if your day can get any worse, but it does. The phone buzzes in its holder, prompting you to get up and cross the room again to reach it.

The user ID displayed on the phone screen already disturbs you as you press the TALK button.

" _This is a message from the Alteran Core,_ " dictates the pre-recorded part of the message. The signal is so bad that you can barely tell what it's saying, though. " _Please have a writing utensil and some paper at the ready, in the event that you should need to record this message. Please press one for your message. For more options press 2_."

The voice is familiar but faraway. You haven't heard the automated message since you left Altera. You grab a pencil and a napkin just lying around the kitchen to scribble on as you listen. " _... To replay this message, press nine_."

You remove the phone from your ear and press the one button. Immediately, you are directed to your caller. "Hello?" You ask.

" _Moon One, this is Sun One. Do you copy. Do you copy._ "

You're left gaping at the phone as you try to record the words and fail at the first word. The voice is reminiscent of a text-to-speech converter, a feminine, robotic voice that has been autotuned to reverberate with every consonant. Only one person you know _can_ and _would_ try to contact you in this fashion, and you don't like the sound of it.

"Sun One, this is Moon One. I copy. I copy," you respond, as agreed upon.

" _Good. We have received word that you are waning_ ," the voice says. " _You must abscond immediately. Have a good day._ "

And just like that, the call ends. " _To replay the entirety of this message, press one. To end the call and delete the voice file, press END…_ "

You hit the END button just to get the damned thing to shut up.

You know that none of the files are actually deleted. They all get sent to the archives in Sander, where unfortunate interns listen to each one and track down those dumb enough to start a revolt by phone. That's why you use code words.

The concept of waning is a play on the whole idea of your code name being Moon One. If Sun One really says you're in danger, then you have no qualms about what you're going to do.

You look around the kitchen until you find the business card of the timber lot pinned to the bulletin board. You dial the number and wait.

It takes a whole minute and a half for the receptionist to pick up. " _Velder Woodworking, how may I help you,_ " sighs the receptionist.

"Hello!" You try to sound cheerful, despite the drowsy receptionist. "My name is Rena Lire. I'd like to speak to the worker Raven Corvus, if that's not a bother!"

"... _I will have him called down shortly to speak to you, Miss Lire._ "

In a few minutes, Raven is at the phone. " _This had better be urgent,_ " he growls. " _I can't just leave right now unless it's an absolute emergency._ "

"Raven, I swear this is an absolute emergency," you whisper, suddenly dropping to your knees like you don't want to be seen in the window. "My past is catching up to me. People are coming for me. You need to come back, I need to explain everything, I don't want to put you in danger-"

" _Woah, woah, woah, slow down. Your past is catching up to you? Rena, I don't understand-"_

"You don't." You take a moment to breathe. "Raven, you need to come home right this instant. Altera is coming for me."

Raven is silent for a moment. " _Twenty minutes._ "

He hangs up before you can even open your mouth again. "Thank you," you sigh as you drop the phone at your side and wait.

* * *

 _Velder City, 2:43 pm_

When the door knob start rattling, you're a little paranoid. Still, you get up off the floor to let Raven in.

He looks like he ran all the way back home, which makes sense. Walking from the woodlot can take an hour during a bad day. When he walks through the door, you're instantly tempted to towel him off with your cardigan, but you know you're going to need it clean and salvageable.

As you close the door and lock it, Raven immediately rushes over to the window and draws the curtains. The entire room goes dark.

He grabs your hand as you reach for the light switch. "Don't," he warns. "There are Alteran police outside."

You weren't prepared for the Alterans to find you so soon after the message, but you wrestle your hand out of Raven's grip and drop it. "I need to show you something," you tell him quietly, leaving the door behind and turning to the bed, where you pull the bag of your things out again.

Raven only watches intently as you open the bag and rifle through it. The purse of your money you toss to him as you dig deeper in. "Take what you need," you tell him, continuing to pull out your things. You don't face him as he cracks open the patent leather and doubtlessly ogles at the thousands you've stored in it.

You empty out your entire bag, but your badges aren't there. "Why aren't they in my bag?" You ask yourself, panic beginning to set in. "Where are my badges?"

In a moment of sheer panic, you turn the entire bag upside down and shake it. The badges fall out of a side pocket, right into your lap. The twelve-pointed mechanism that once adorned your cardigan shines in the rosy gold that it always has. "Can you believe me when I say that I'm from Altera?" You ask.

"Rena, I believe you." Raven's voice is hollow with fear. "Please, just tell me why you're in danger, what you need me to do."

"Don't treat me any differently because where I came from!" You snap, turning around to face him. His face is ashen. "Raven, I woke up in an Alteran hospital five years ago with no memories."

"What did they make you?" He asks.

"A maid," you reply. "Not just any maid… I served a very high ranking Alteran young lady living in the Core. She was very kind to me… One of the few that were. My fellow maids were angels to me, but I could hear them whispering behind my back all the time."

"Why did you leave?" Blurts Raven suddenly. "You could have had everything, but you chose to come to the lowliest city in Elrios. The filth of the land. The trashpile. Why?"

You grimace. "Because I wasn't wanted. Because they made me feel less than human. My lady's family was very… Taxing on me. I couldn't take it."

The two of you sit in silence as you press your badges back to your shoulders. "The young Lady and her friend helped me escape Altera," you recall. "I ran for two days straight between the cities until I got here. And now Altera has found me, and they're bringing me back."

His pokerface has turned into a steely grimace. "Is that bag the entirety of your possessions?" He asks.

"Yeah, I think," you offer.

He opens his drawer and sifts through the few clothes he does own. "We're leaving for Feita," he says, grabbing a few shirts and tossing them onto the bed. "I have an old friend who lives there. It's a sanctuary we can trust… For now."

His words wash over you, calming your jittery nerves down. "Thank you, Raven," you murmur, putting a hand on his mechanical shoulder.

He simply shrugs it off, letting you drop back into the tides of your thoughts.

* * *

 _Velder City, 8:29_

Six hours. It's been six hours since you and Raven packed what little possessions you had and left Velder.

Raven left some specific messages for Noel and Praus, in the event that the Alteran police should actually search his apartment. One of the final contingency plans, handed over to the slightly more sensible Praus, is to actually just burn down the entire building. It wouldn't be as incriminating as finding your DNA in the room, but Raven's voice shuddered when he spoke those words.

It actually only took a little while to actually leave Velder. You were expecting the police to hunt you down, but for the most part Velder carries on with its everyday happenings as the two of you travel. Raven only has an old map for navigation, but there's only really one way to go.

As the two of you travel, Raven begins to talk of the past. You suppose it's your fault for dragging him into this hell with you, but as the two of you find an old tree to rest against, he begins to speak.

"I had a classmate who left Velder during her twenties," he recalls. "They say she fell in love with a man from Altera. Apparently the two of them live outside the cities now."

You wince. If there's anything worse than living in the trashpile of Elrios, as Velder is often called, it's being a Wanderer. In Altera, Wanderers are looked down upon, as animals and outcasts. To think that an Alteran had sacrificed everything to be with a Velderian…

As you ponder the events of today, a blur in retrospect, you're suddenly aware that Raven's breathing has slowed down next to you. He's already fast asleep, exhausted by his work at the woodlot and having to run home.

You're not sure why you do it, but as he peacefully slumbers, you gently kiss his forehead. "Sleep well," you murmur, stretching out your legs as you try to relax against the tree.

In the sky above you, the stars twinkle with mischief.

* * *

 **A/N: Here is your newest update, guys and gals and non-binary pals. With this update comes a few milestones.**

 **\- We've hit 20,000 words, which is 40% of the requirement for Nanowrimo.**

 **\- I'M HALFWAY THROUGH NOVEMBER I HAVE 16 DAYS LEFT TO COMPLETE THE REMAINING 60-ODD PERCENT OF SPECTATOR GOD SAVE MY SOUL**

 **Also, it's my friend's birthday! Plz go wish him a happy birthday on tumblr, he goes by garden-variety-pessimist**

 **Special thanks to user EternaPhoenix for reviewing literally every chapter so far, and users Amy Valikie and Scientist Zimmena for following/faving! Y'all have no clue how happy I am when you guys review/follow/fave like seriously I love y'all thenk you**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	6. Chapter 6

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 6

Sometimes, you hate your brother for putting you on the fiftieth floor.

You love your brother, and you love your penthouse, but being on such a high story in the Core has its disadvantages. For one, if you want to get anything, you have to either take the elevator downstairs, which can take twenty minutes, or you have to call it up, which goes through your brother's approval. And you know that never works out well.

Chung has taken his perch on the couch, after you took his armor to get at the power source. It's a biochemically formulated battery called the Guardian Stone, designed to turn kinesthetic and thermal energy into usable electricity to assist with movement in the clunky armor. It's virtually indestructible, cased in laminated glass and a soft plastic, and it's only granted to the guardians of the top Alterans.

For whatever reason, it also buzzes. With a little luck and a little messing around, you can connect it to the phone line by synchronizing their frequencies. Your brother can't trace you through the Guardian Stone, if only because the signal is so shitty.

You do love Adam, if only because he's your only living family, but he's been trying to push his ideals on you a lot. In light of the recent events happening-the protest in Elder, the Head Librarian being assassinated-he knows you're aware of the outside world. As much as you want to stay in Altera, you know there are people suffering out there, even within Altera's city borders. Maybe one day you'll take over the reins of Altera and all of Elrios. When that day comes, you'll make sure no one suffers.

Not after the last time.

"Eve, are you sure you know how to put together my gear?" Asks Chung, coming back from the kitchen with a bag of chips.

 _Whoops._ "I believe so," you offer before turning back to your work.

Chung is the only member of your guard, unlike your brother, who literally brings an armada with him everywhere. You had more guardsmen when you were younger, but after you bonded with Chung during the mess when you were ten, you decided to dismiss the others. The two of you have been through thick and thin together. You know him better than you know anyone else. He's your best friend, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

When he stands up, you steal a few chips from the bag before letting him sit beside you on the ground in your fortress of sound equipment and dismantled gear. The two of you spend a solid five minutes tweaking the mess that is your makeshift sound equipment.

You pick up the microphone(an old karaoke mic; neither of you are very fond of karaoke anymore) to check the sound quality for what you want. "Test," you say softly, clicking the replay button.

Chung literally jumps up when the sound comes out of your laptop. You want to claw your ears out. It's just _that_ bad.

"Try applying more reverb and less direct sound," he suggests, wincing.

You toggle with the controls on your laptop, trying to reduce the screeching. "Test two," you say."

This time, the microphone picks up your voice and spits it out as a deep rumble. It's like your brother just inhaled a ton of heavy gas and tried to recite one of his speeches.

Both you and Chung break out laughing this time, because in comparison to the last attempt, this one is just ridiculous. Chung grabs the microphone from you. "I'm Batman," he says as low as he can muster, which isn't too far out of your own vocal range.

You hit the replay button. The feedback is so low that it's little more than a hum or a buzz. "ERM BURRMURR."

The two of you roar with laughter.

"We need to focus," you remind him, covering your mouth out of habit as you try to swallow your laughter. "Rena only has about an hour until my brother deploys his police, maybe less."

Chung immediately stops laughing and turns solemn. "We should have done more," he says, pounding the sofa with his fist. "I could have gotten someone to erase her from the system. I could have-"

"It is alright, Chung," you assure him. "As long as we can protect Rena now, our project will not have been in vain."

Your words ring hollow, even to yourself. Chung seems to be pacified for the time being, though.

A few tweaks later, and you've achieved the effect you want: a robotic hum that retains very little of your own voice. While Chung attaches his Guardian Stone to your laptop and connects it to the phone line, you take your tablet computer out of your hoodie pocket. While you're not the best at hacking, the Core's security protocols can easily be overridden with the executive passwords.

Your brother changes the password every few days or so, but you've built an algorithm that can figure out what it is pretty quickly. The new passcode, updated only just last night, is a string of randomized letters and numbers, which you plug into the Core's security system.

Your tablet lights up in pink. You now have control over the entire Core.

It's definitely not authorized, but you can now regulate temperature, security cameras, lighting, everything in the entire building. You only need to alter one little thing, though. Maybe about three or four years ago, you and Chung discovered a hidden microphone in your room. A little investigation concluded that not only has it been there for as long as you've been living here, but the sound feed goes directly to your brother.

Switching the sound feed off, though, is important if you're going to call Rena. If your brother can't hear you and the recording of the call is warped, your two greatest concerns have already been taken of. You simply need to call Rena now.

As you settle back into the little nest in the middle of Chung's armor, Chung hands you the microphone. "Good luck," he mouths.

"Thanks," you mouth back.

There's still a while you have to wait while Rena answers and deals with the standard automated message that every call out of the Altera Core goes through. You're tempted to give Chung the microphone and ask him to tell Rena instead, but you manage to hold the microphone with trembling hands as you pull up the script you've prepared.

" _Hello?_ "

Rena's melodic voice has become alien to you. Instantly, you sit up straight. Chung points at the laptop screen, trying to keep himself from bursting.

"Moon One, this is Sun One," you read, hoping that your voice manipulation software worked. "Do you copy. Do you copy."

A moment of silence. Then, " _Sun One, this is Moon One. I copy. I copy._ "

You allow yourself to breathe out. _She remembers_. "Good," you say, drifting away from the script. "We have received word that you are waning. You _must_ abscond immediately."

You pause for a moment. "Have a good day," you conclude, clicking the "End Call" on your laptop screen and clasping your chest.

It worked. Rena now has enough time to escape.

You sigh, letting yourself relax. You hadn't noticed until just now, but your shoulders were scrunched up, like they always do when you're nervous. "Assignment over," you murmur, falling back against the ground and narrowly missing a large piece of Chung's armor. "Rena's going to be alright."

Chung clears his throat. "Uh, Eve… What about my armor?"

You sit up again. It occurs to you that the Guardian Stone is still plugged into your computer. "Yes. Right," you mutter, gathering the pieces of Chung's shoulder pads and unplugging the Guardian Stone. He tosses you a screwdriver as you cross your legs and settle the pieces in your lap.

Even as a child, you loved putting things together. You recall clearly that when your parents brought you and Adam to Hamel in the winter when you were six, you were each given a thousand dollars to buy a souvenir or two.

Adam spent his thousand dollars on a small snowglobe. It was a nice snowglobe, depicting the beautiful Water Temple that is the centre of Hamel. When he wound it up for you, it would play a theme from a song and the little glittery snowflakes inside would dance around.

You, on the other hand, wandered off into a side street. You bought a tin of mints from a candy shop and a cheap wind-up toy from the toy store next door. As you sat in the private train car on the way home, your brother spent the entire time pestering you about your purchases. Even as he broke your toy and got subsequently scolded for, you didn't regret buying them.

Your father found you in his workshop the next day, taking apart the toy with a screwdriver and carefully putting together a tiny music box with the gears and pieces inside. You weren't in trouble, despite having snuck into his workshop, but instead, your father taught you to build. To create.

"Eve! Wake up!"

You blink. The shoulder pads lie reassembled in your hands. Chung is waving a hand in front of your face. "You blanked out again," he murmurs, stroking your back soothingly.

You sigh. "I'm sorry, Chung. I don't know why I do these things to you."

He smiles weakly. "Don't worry, milady," he says, like he always does.

You always feel so guilty when he says it, though.

* * *

 _Altera Core, 4:58 pm._

"Proto, you need to stop overworking the poor girl," chides your wardrobe artist when you and your trainer show up in her dressing studio on the thirty-ninth floor after an intense training session. "Now her hair's all sweaty."

Proto snorts. "We only went a few laps," she says, sitting on the edge of one of Apple's dressers. "And I only had her do fifty situps today. Evangeline's a tough cookie. She can handle it."

"That doesn't mean she's not covered in sweat!" Wails Apple, ushering you towards the seats. "Eve, sweet, come with me, we need to hurry and wash your hair."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Evangeline," says Proto, leaving the studio behind as Apple drags you away and sits you down at the first seat. The door slams behind her.

Apple sighs. "Sometimes I worry for her," she mutters as she lowers your chair back, dropping your damp hair into the water and ripping the elastic out. "Persephone, the argan oil shampoo."

Her assistant shows up with the bottle. "Persephone, prepare Lady Evangeline's ensemble," orders Apple, massaging the shampoo into your hair. "I want the A-thirteen skirt and the C-five blouse. Hold up, no, get the G-eighty five dress and the I-nine overcoat. I'll go pick out some nice shoes later."

Persephone bows politely and hurries off. You wonder how they keep track of all these numbers and letters. Heck, you wonder how Apple knows right off the bat what number she wants.

"Your brother is meeting with many people tonight," chitters Apple, rinsing off your hair gently. "He says he's formally unveiling something."

"The Morpheus Project," you mutter. He won't tell anyone what it is, or what your part in it is or will be. It's nice to know that you're finally going to find out.

"All the fine folk will be there," sighs Apple. "Ignis and Leviathan! Oh, how I wish I could go in your stead, Lady. There are going to be some _fiiiiine_ men at the dinner."

"Will my fiance be present?" You ask.

"Possibly," she hums, raising your seat again and towelling off your hair. "I can't see why you hate him so much, Eve, he's so handsome!"

Your wardrobe coordinator, unfortunately, is just one of the many people in Altera who are smitten with your fiance. While personally you think Add is just an ordinary-looking guy, most of the women you know are constantly gushing about him, praising his looks and his talents.

"I have no intention to marry him, politically or otherwise," you tell her. "He's a brat and has no consideration for the people. Frankly, I couldn't care less about him."

Apple clicks her tongue as she reaches for the hair dryer. "Well, you're going to have to marry him eventually, Evangeline."

You sit through the warm air blast, trying to fight the urge to push your hair out of your face every few seconds or so. When the whirring of the hair dryer finally stops, you immediately blow your bangs out of your face.

As Apple combs out your hair, instantly flattening it down, she opens a jar of argan oil and dips her fingers in. Your hair is always at prime condition because she always insists on using entire crates of this stuff. Your naturally white hair begins to shine silver as she hums and works her magic.

You've been told that your white hair is a clear indicator of your high position. Your family, the Nasod family, claims heritage from the high Alterans of lore. The only real indicator of this is your white hair, which has been passed down in your family from generation to generation. Your grandfather had white hair, though that might have been merely an indicator of his age. Both your parents had white hair. Your brother has the same type of white hair that lies on your own head.

After Apple has finally decided that she's happy with the condition of your hair, you've only got about an hour until the dinner. She literally picks you up off the seat and carries you to the dressing room, where she scrambles to throw a dress over your head and wrap you up in the overcoat.

Her choice of shoes today is a pair of white boots, which you struggle to tug on as she drags you to a mirror. Her assistants, Persephone and Charon, are running all around the studio, grabbing accessories and pins as Apple barks out orders. You're faintly aware of a brush sweeping across your face, then a light mist settling across your field of vision.

"Lady Evangeline!"

You blink. Apple is spinning you around on the chair as you look at yourself in the mirror. "What do you think?"

Frankly, you think you don't look like yourself. Apple has turned you into an elegant young woman, no, a lady. As you fold your hands in your lap, you resist the urge to pluck the little headband out of your hair. Most of it has been wrapped in two buns on either side of your head.

Apple did a makeover on your face, too. Your skin looks like porcelain, and your eyes are vibrant and alive. "Thank you, Apple," you murmur.

She does a curtsey. "My pleasure, Lady," she replies. "Now go! Your brother awaits!"

Without further warning, she shoves you out the door and disappears back into her studio.

* * *

 _Cyclamen Banquet Hall, Altera City, 6:34 pm._

As much as you hate to admit it, you've always hated state dinners, and you always will.

Your brother insists on taking you to every single one, though, under the premise that someday, you'll "inherit Altera" from him. It's mean to be "practice" for a day when you become the ruler.

Yet you're always uncomfortable at these things. While your brother sits in his pinstriped suit, his white hair tied up at the nape of his neck, you can't quite sit still. The outfit-sorry, _ensemble_ \- that Apple had picked out for you isn't a long dress, thank El, but it's still scratchy and not nearly as cozy as your hoodie.

Chung stands behind you, as he always does. You feel ridiculously guilty that he can't eat with everyone, but you brother sends you a glare that reminds you of his rank and city of affiliation. You can only hope that Adam will let you take some of the food back to your penthouse.

Thank El Add hasn't shown up. The chair on your left remains empty. To your right, your brother is talking with the eight other people at your table, most of whom you can't name.

The five course meal sounds like a lot to digest, but doesn't really boil down to much. The salad course is introduced as a "rapunzel greens arrangement with scallions and exotic dressing", which translates to, in pleb language, a lettuce salad. When it arrives, you can't help but feel like it's just a miserable little thing, a few leaves of lettuce, arranged with scallions in some complex flowery structure. A light drizzle of what smells like mango dressing adorns the piece.

It's like the chefs are creating artwork instead of food. Just one of the reasons why you don't call up food from downstairs-the chefs would turn a bowl of cereal into a Dadaist interpretation of Elrios' growing economy. Their arteries would probably pop if they found out that the young Lady Nasod subsided off apple fries and mayonnaise.

You look over the display of cutlery before you. There's a simple knife, fork and spoon, a basic trio. A glass of water and an empty champagne flute sit just beyond your plate; you wonder if you'll have to toast today. There's also a pair of black chopsticks lined with golden threads on a tiny white and blue porcelain chopstick holder, possibly for sushi or sashimi.

"Not hungry?" Your brother smiles at you warmly. His own salad is long gone.

"Quite the contrary," you reply. "I was merely thinking about the chopsticks."

Adam's smile never wavers. "A young lady shouldn't be thinking of such superficial things," he chides. "Eat your salad. The next course is coming."

You flatten the entire salad flower with your fork, scooping the entire thing up and putting it in your mouth. The vegetables are all a little mushy, but the mango dressing surprisingly packs a punch. You make a personal note to buy some mango dressing if you have time to.

As soon as you drop your fork, a waiter appears to sweep both your plate and your brother's away. Immediately, the dish is replaced by a new one, covered with a dark blue translucent cover that twinkles with little glitter stars. Another waiter whisks the covers away, revealing a small red lacquer bowl of soup.

You instantly fall in love with the bowl. It's beautifully carved with dragons and clouds, reminiscent of Sanderian motifs. The soup, however, smells like literal death. You turn around to give Chung a desperate look. "Help," you mouth, wrinkling your nose.

Chung's nose is also wrinkled. "I can smell it from here," he whispers back.

Beside you, Adam has already downed his entire bowl. "Eve, aren't you enjoying your soup?" He asks. "It doesn't taste as bad as it smells, I swear."

When you don't respond, he tries to entice you with more information. "It's called the soup of pearls, emeralds and white jade. White rice represents the pearls, nappa cabbage and spinach represent the emeralds and cubed tofu presents the white jade. It's a very traditional soup."

You sigh. "I really am not comfortable consuming this, brother," you admit. "It makes me want to hurl my lunch."

Adam's smile is still as serene as ever. "Leave it," he says. "It's an acquired taste. I couldn't stand it the first few times either."

The main course eventually does come, and while you do enjoy the well roasted chicken, the scent of the soup has left you with no appetite whatsoever. Your brother does give in to your pleas to let Chung have some dessert, though, for which you're grateful.

As the two of you enjoy your rich chocolate hazelnut ice cream, your brother stands up and moves to the podium to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to formally unveil the Morpheus Project," he announces. "Now, I'm sure that all of you have heard something or other about the Morpheus project at some point in this week, after it was heavily publicized."

Chung shovels the last of his ice cream into his mouth. "Finally," he mutters under his breath.

You have to agree. Ever since the press got the news that the Morpheus Project existed, the entire country has been predicting what the project is. The most logical theory you've heard so far was that Adam is going to put the entire country to sleep.

You really hope that's not the case.

"The Morpheus Project will be one spanning across the next few years," says Adam. "Recently, threats have been made to Elrios. Our nearest ally, Empyrean, is busy fighting a war of its own, and cannot help us against this enemy. To combat this enemy, a group of very talented individuals and I have chosen to put together the Morpheus Project.

"The basis of this project is to enhance our military in the less economically stable cities of Elrios," he explains. By "less economically stable cities", you suppose he really means "all of the cities that are ranked under Elder".

"This project will create more jobs for those living in the cities, and overall it will increase the security within the country," he concludes. "If you would like to ask any questions, now would be a good time for me to answer them."

The reporters and journalists at the back of the room all fly into a frenzy, shouting out questions as your brother's guardsmen hold them back. "You there, the one in the orange shirt holding the camera."

"When will the project begin taking place?" Asks the reporter.

Adam looks like he's contemplating his answer, but you know he's already got an answer ready to go. "The first reforms should take place by this May, but we're implementing some experimental troops alongside the Bethma River and Bethagara Falls at the moment. You there," he points, "purple dress and giant sunglasses."

"If you don't mind me asking, Sir," says the journalist, "who is this common enemy we must face?"

The room goes silent. Your brother sighs. "Well, I might as well get this out now," he says. "No, don't run, it's a valid question, I won't have you executed, I'm not _that_ mean." A laugh ripples through the room. "About five years ago, there was an uprising that stemmed out of Velder. It was led by four people.

"One of these four people eventually left the group and led us to their weaknesses, allowing us to overcome the uprising. This person has been rewarded greatly for their service to the state and to Elrios. Another of the four died during an escape. Another returned to Velder. We have great reason to believe that this person has also died.

"The final person was a minor at the time of the uprising," he explains. "This person was interrogated but not punished, and was eventually sent to live in Feita. However, over the years, the final conspirator has become a naturalized citizen of Feita, and has raised a militia of their own. We have reason to believe that this may end in yet another uprising."

The room goes wild, but you don't notice them. You feel sick just looking at them, at their one-track minds.

You turn to Chung. "We need to leave, now," you murmur.

He nods. "Harrington, this is Seiker Two," he says into the microphone built into his gauntlet. "I'm taking Lady Evangeline home. She's not feeling well."

"Copy that. You are free to go, Seiker Two."

He helps you up and out of the room, into the lobby. The golden dragons adorning the red walls seem to swim as Chung lets you sit down and calls for a ride home to the Core. "Hey, Eve, wake up," he tells you loudly, shaking your shoulder. "Was the soup really that bad?"

"You were literally two metres away from it," you retort. "I'm sorry, Chung. It's not the soup that's making me uncomfortable."

The taxi arrives in only a few minutes. Chung helps you in as the two of you ride towards the Core. The Altera Core was once a complex built underground, then a mountain, and now the skyscraper that you and hundreds of others call home. The first twenty-five floors or so are your brother's working areas, with grand chandeliers and spiral staircases characterizing the first fifteen floors and machinery and office chairs representing the next ten. Almost all the floors in between those and your own are workshops and living spaces for the staff and guests.

Add, thankfully, doesn't live in the Core. No one actually knows where he popped up from, or why your brother dropped the two of you in a political engagement, but he just appeared when you were about fourteen, claiming his own relations to the high Alterans. He lives about a block away from the west end of the Core.

As you and Chung wait for the elevator to reach your floor(which usually takes about five minutes) you finally dare to take in a deep breath. "My brother has finally gone off the deep end," you declare.

Chung tries to calm you down. "Eve, it's only an experiment," he argues. "The Morpheus Project is still in the planning stages-"

"It's only going to get worse from here on out," you retort. "Look at our friends. EM and RS aren't from the higher cities. What about them? What about their families?"

Chung is silent. "We can't just let them be surrounded," he says quietly. "Censoring is going wild after the mess with the head librarian. There's an uprising in Feita. How can we save them without ending the Morpheus Project?"

A plan forms in your mind, a creation that isn't entirely your own. "We leave Altera," you say.

He stares at you like you're insane. "Eve, this is our home! How do we just leave?"

You sigh as the elevator doors open, bringing you back to your home.

"To be honest, Chung, I don't know."

* * *

 **A/N: I DUNNO IF Y'ALL SAW 2NA'S THING ON HIS CHANNEL BUT I AM COMPLETELY HEARTBROKEN OVER SOLACE AND THE EL LADY**

 **On the other hand, happy day, my lamp finally arrived in the mail, new Yuri on Ice episode, Victuuri happened, my OTP in Els became 20% more canon. happy day.**

 **Oh, and I do have some things on my tumblr that I'll be posting in a few minutes regarding this chapter! I'll be tagging them "blink saga" on margaritadaemonelix dot tumblr dot com, so plz check them out! They're part of the intense worldbuilding thing that I've been working on lately.**

 **Please check it out if you have the time to! I've been working very hard on the Blink saga up until now(worldbuilding started April 2016) and in the time that it has taken to get here, a lot of it has actually been uprooted by canon T-T but this is an AU, so I'll still be going with some of my original concepts!**

 **Hope your days goes as well as mine!**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	7. Chapter 7

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 7

You've never seen Aisha in such a bad condition. You thought her panic attacks when she first moved to Ruben were bad, but this… This cannot be good for her.

It took you a few hours just to calm her down after she tried to explain what happened. Though you didn't understand all of it, you got the general idea: Aisha tasered a guy who was being a creep to her, and accidentally killed him.

She didn't get much sleep that night, and you still feel guilty that you slept and she didn't. The following day, she was up before you were, mindlessly making herself coffee.

You knew it wasn't safe in Ruben anymore, so you suggested that the two of you visit your sister in Feita. Aisha didn't even respond. She just left the kitchen and started packing.

As the two of you continue walking, just beyond the borders of Ruben City, Aisha doesn't speak. Normally you'd be trying to get her to shut up, but she's silent. It feels awful.

Your backpack isn't too heavy-the both of you decided to pack light to travel. Someday, maybe you'll return to Ruben for the rest of your things and hers, but right now you only really have one change of clothes and your papers in your bag, along with some food and what little money you still have. Aisha's bag consists of similar contents, though you're pretty sure she brought at least one book with her.

She has so many books, more than you've ever seen. Most of them are stored in individual plastic bags in a large storage box in your closet. A handful are on her desk, and she's already given away a few. Growing up, the only other place where you'd see that many books was at the public library, and even then they weren't as well kept or as diverse as Aisha's books. Sometimes, when you crack open one, you can't even read the table of contents.

Aisha is a genius, you've discovered. For one, her parents aren't from Elrios, or Empyrean. She herself speaks both Elrian and her native language fluently. She has books in traditional Sanderian and she reads them just as well. You wonder how she manages to juggle so many languages.

You remember the first time you took one of her books, she punched you in the face for putting the book face down. You later learned that doing so damages the spine of the book.

"The bane of every librarian", she called it.

"Elsword."

You turn to face Aisha, who has moved to sit in the shade of a tree. "I'm tired," she says. "Let's take a break."

You can't argue with that logic, so you drop yourself next to her, sighing as the tension in your shoulders dissipates when your bag slides off.

Aisha seems to be studying you again. "Tell me about your sister," she says simply, stretching her legs out in front of her. "I want to know her like you know her."

"Uh…" What could you tell her about Elesis that wasn't an insult to either? "She's scary if you piss her off."

Aisha snorts. "No shit, Sherlock," she says. "No, like, what kind of person is she? How did she end up living in Feita? Weren't the both of you born in Ruben?"

You smile. "Time for a little Sieghart family history," you declare, lying down in the grass. "Elesis… Elsa is brash."

"More than you?" Teases Aisha.

"Maybe," you reply, shrugging. You immediately regret doing so, in lieu of your sore shoulders. "She's brash in the way that if something interests her, she'll charge in without a second thought. She used to take on kids twice her size when we were really little, because she thought-no, she _knew_ she could take them on and _win_."

Aisha smiles. "It runs in the family, doesn't it."

"Nice try," you tell her, smiling wryly. "But yeah, Elsa did a lot of things without thinking about them first. So when I was fourteen-that would have been when she was about seventeen, I think-she, ah, you remember the uprising in Altera five years back?"

Her eyes go wide. "Your sister went to participate in the protests at the age of seventeen?" She asks incredulously.

You shake your head. "Not just participate. She was one of the four leaders."

Aisha's silent. "Wow," she murmurs. "Wow."

"After the protests, she sent me a letter telling me about it," you sigh, reaching into your bag for your water bottle. "She was the youngest of the four leaders. Out of the other three, two of them were a couple, and the third was their friend. The third one ended up handing all of them over to the authorities. My sister was caught near the Altera-Hamel border."

You breathe in. "Because she was legally a minor at the time, they couldn't put her in a prison in Lanox," you explain. "No one actually ended up in Lanox after the protests. They sent my sister to Feita, they dropped the surviving guy back in Velder, and the other guy ended up in Sander, I believe."

The two of you sit in silence for a while. "How did your parents even let her go?" Asks Aisha, looking down at you as you lie in the grass. "My mother would never have let me go to something like that."

"Well, Lowe and Anne aren't like your mother," you tell her. "For one, they're not our biological parents."

You can't help but chuckle when Aisha's neutral expression turns to one of shock. "Incredible, isn't it. Mom has pink hair and Dad has brown hair, what did you expect?" You tug on a lock of your own hair. "Besides, Elsa and I both have red eyes. That's not a Ruben thing."

"You think you aren't from Ruben?" She asks, eyes wide.

"Well, it's a theory," you admit. "Elsa and I never really talked about it much before she left for Altera, but we talked about it a few times in our emails since then. She thinks our biological parents might have been from somewhere else, maybe Elder or even from overseas. I'm not entirely sure, but I think our parents might have left us in Ruben and returned to the city they came from."

"How old were you when you were adopted?" She asks.

"Maybe about a few months old," you admit. "I can't remember anything about them."

That's a lie, and you know it. Even from your earliest memories, you can pull out little snippets. The warmth of a loving hand covered in cold rings and soft silk. The deep chuckle of your biological father. A lazy afternoon of sitting under a tree as pink petals glazed in sunlight drift around you.

"I hope they're alright…" Aisha sighs, pulling her hair out from behind her and letting her pigtails rest on her shoulders. "If they've passed on, I hope they can rest in peace."

You smirk. "Now your turn, Grape," you suggest. "Tell me a bit about your family history."

She looks like she's about to smack you. Her eyes become alive with dark flames for a moment before she looks away and blinks. "My… Family?"

"If you're comfortable with it," you say quickly, wincing at your own words. "If you don't want to talk about it-"

"No, no, I probably should," she says, gazing down into her lap. "My parents came from a little town in Empyrean. They immigrated here because it was being turned into an industrial area. I was born in Bethma."

"Have you been to Empyrean?" You ask.

"Once, when I was really little." Aisha pauses. "My mother tried to take me once after my father died. I didn't go with her because I had school and there was the nationwide literacy test I needed to study for. It drove her nuts, but eventually my aunt Speka convinced her to let me stay."

The name instantly clicks with you. "Isn't Speka the name on your ID? Speka Cerise, isn't it," you recall.

Aisha nods. "Yes. Aunt Speka was a little… Mentally ill," she confesses. "She had a wide imagination and she loved reading, just like my mother… But she was also bipolar. It plagued her from her childhood. She committed suicide when I was twelve. Jumped off the roof, the old hag. We didn't know what to do."

She's silent for a while. "After Aunt Speka died, Mother's condition got worse and worse," she says, tracing circles on her leg with her fingernail. "When Mother died, I lived with my grandfather for a while as we tried to keep the house. It didn't work. We lost our case. Grandfather died after we lost the house. I think that was really the final straw for him, after losing everyone else."

She leans back on the tree and smiles. "And here I am now, sitting under a tree nearly a light year away from any sense of civilization," she jokes.

"That's not entirely true," you argue, "We're technically beyond the cities now. We could start a revolution out here and no one would know."

Aisha laughs, a crystal clear noise that pierces the silence of the forest. "We really shouldn't be starting any revolutions," she says. "The last handful of uprisings have all ended in failure."

She holds up a hand to count off her fingers. "Revolution five years ago failed-no offense," she begins. "There was a coup d'etat led by a young woman in Sander six, maybe seven years ago. She was caught and found guilty of treason. Actually, she was supposed to be executed but someone busted her out before it happened. They never found her after that. Before that, there was a family of scientists from Elder who were executed for plotting against the government. And before that…" She shivers. "I've only heard theories. I hope they're not true."

You look at your watch. "It's half past two," you realize. "Time to get going."

As you sit up and pack your water bottle back in your bag, Aisha touches your shoulder. "Thank you," she says. "I was really feeling crappy until now."

"What are friends for?" You respond.

It doesn't occur to you until later, as you're trudging down the road, that it's the first time you've ever considered Aisha as your friend.

* * *

 _Unknown location, 7:51 pm._

The two of you have been walking for four, maybe five hours now. The sky is getting dark, and you can start to feel the evening chill creep into your jacket. Your feet have been protesting for hours, and only now can you feel the pins and needles blossom under your heels.

"Hold on," you tell Aisha, who's in a similar condition beside you. "We should take a break."

You're in an older section of forest, where the trees are taller and more dense. The paved road has diverged into a dirt path, one that extends into the forest and twists into darkness. The plants on either side of the path fall over onto the path, as if trying to seduce you with their poison.

Aisha stops. "There's a clearing about fifty metres ahead," she points out. "We can go rest there."

The fifty metres it takes for you to walk there feels like fifty kilometres, like fifty years. As soon as you make sure there's nothing on the ground that could be potentially dangerous, you drop like a rock.

Beside you, Aisha is already lying on the ground, taking in deep gasps of air. "How much farther to Feita?" She asks, rolling onto her side to pull a flashlight out of her bag.

You scan the forest over. "There," you tell her, pointing at the mountain in the distance. "Feita is situated around that mountain. My sister said there was once a temple in that mountain where people prayed for a goddess to bless their crops."

Aisha squints at the outline of the mountain, rapidly fading in the dying sunlight. "That looks about a million years away," she complains, taking a light jacket out of her bag and laying it on her arms crossed over her chest. "How long do you figure it'll take us to get there?"

You rummage through your bag, finding your near-empty water bottle. "If we keep going at the rate we're going at now…" You down the remainder of your water. There's another bottle, and if you're lucky, you'll find more soon. "... We'll probably get there in three hours from our current position."

"That sounds good to me," she sighs, snuggling into her bag, which she's turned into a makeshift pillow. "We can leave early in the morning and get there early, maybe we won't have to go through so much shit with the security."

She closes her eyes. "Wake me up when it's my turn to…"

She doesn't even finish the sentence before she's out like a rock. You can hear her softly snoring. For _Aisha_ to be _snoring_ , she must be exhausted.

You're just as tired as she is, but for your own safety and hers, you force yourself to stay awake. There's a small sliver of sunlight that is still visible over the ridge of the trees ahead. You sit down next to her, forcing yourself to keep your eyes open in the intense light.

"Look Aisha," you tell her, despite knowing she's already fast asleep, "look at the sunset."

As the last rays of sunlight die overhead and the stars begin to twinkle, you can't help but wonder if you'll see such a beautiful concentration of colour again.

* * *

 _Unknown location, 6:21 am._

"Wake up, Elsword, we need to go."

You blink. The sun's rising again, and the field is beginning to light up.

"Time to wake up."

You nearly scream, but you hold yourself back. Aisha is leaning over you, with a shit-eating grin and sharp, awakened eyes. "What the fuck, Grape?" You splutter. "Do we really need to go over this at like, what, six in the morning?"

"Six twenty," she confirms, stepping away from you. "Besides, it wasn't my idea to leave early in the morning."

It _was_ her idea, but you know it's pointless to argue against her. As you sit up and rub your eyes, a blade of grass falls onto your arm. You shake your head violently, causing grass to rain down around you.

It instantly wakes you up, though, which is a bonus. "Come on," says Aisha, already packed and ready to go. "Feita is just up ahead. We need to get going."

You stumble to your feet and follow behind her, mindlessly walking as you gather your things. You reluctantly open your remaining bottle of water and take a cautious sip.

The plants on the side of the path seem to curl in towards you as the two of you walk down the path, stepping through an overgrown patch. "Why are they growing towards the path?" You grumble. "Aren't plants supposed to like places that aren't tainted by human feet?"

"Well, in this case, the path has more sunlight than the other parts of the forest," explains Aisha. You mentally slap yourself for accidentally activating Aisha's teacher mode. "Plants like these rely on the sunlight to photosynthesize, though I can't see why-OH MY EL."

She stops dead in the path in front of you, causing you to bump into her. "Look," she whispers, pointing at the plants on the other side of the little forest patch.

"What's wrong with them?" You ask, scanning them over. They're serene and standing as still as ever.

Then it hits you.

The plants are dead. They're ashen gray, preserved perfectly in an eternal tableau. Even the trees seem to be struggling to live.

The strangest part of it all is that there's a clear border between the forest of the living and of the silent. Where the gray plants end, the growing, green ones begin. There's even a tree that's dead on one side and thriving on the other. A thin, eerie blue line separates the two, like a ghost whispering in the ears of the surviving plants.

"Aisha, what's going on?" You whisper.

"I… I've never seen anything like this," she admits, voice just as low. "Let's just keep going and hope we don't stumble out there."

At first she walks along like normal, but in a few moments she picks up a run, and you have to speed up to catch up to her. The branches and straggling leaves that appear in your path are only minor nuisances. Above all, you just want to get away from that border of life and death, and stay far, far away.

There's a small ridge up ahead. Aisha slows to a stop there, panting and gasping for air. "I never want to see that ever again," she gasps. "Oh my fucking El, what was that?"

"It wasn't natural," you agree. "Let's take a break.

Aisha turns around, and gasps. "We're almost there! Elsword, we're almost there!" She cheers, grabbing your hands and jumping around.

You look over the ridge and find yourself staring right at the city where your sister lives.

 _Feita._

* * *

 _Just outside Feita City, 9:17 am._

You get more and more discouraged the closer you come to Feita.

As you and Aisha walk on towards the city, you begin to notice little things. Fires are burning. Structures, destroyed. You hear screaming and crying, even from a distance.

One thing's clear. Something happened in Feita, and it was likely overnight.

When you're about a hundred metres away from the city gates, you see a person jogging over to you and Aisha. As they draw closer, you begin to make out features. A woman, with blonde hair tied in a high ponytail. There's a layer of dark blood near the tips that make the rest of her hair seem green in contrast. When it sways in the wind, you can see the individual strands align to reveal the original blood splatters.

"Hello there!" Beams the young woman. "Welcome to Feita! As you can probably tell right now, it's not in the best condition… Can I help the two of you?"

"We're here from Ruben," says Aisha. "We walked here, we've been walking for the past day. Please, if you could offer us a place to stay…"

The woman smiles sheepishly. "Ah, that's not really my call, I'm sorry," she admits. "I only got here last night, right before the bombing. I can take you to see a higher-up, though."

The words _higher-up_ lick in your half-conscious mind. "Elesis Sieghart," you blurt.

She stares at you. "Excuse me?"

"Could you take us to Elesis Sieghart please?" You plead. "She'll explain everything, please, I beg you-"

"I can take you to Elesis, of course. My friend-" she winces. "My friend is pretty close to her. But why would you want to see her of all people?"

"Elesis is my sister," you tell her. "My name is Elsword Sieghart."

She studies the both of you for a moment. "You'd better come with me," she decides. "And your name is?"

"Aisha Landar," says Aisha. "And you?"

"My name's Rena Lire," she says, shaking Aisha's hand, then yours. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

Rena is kind, if anything else. She smiles more than she speaks, even though you can see that she's just as tired as the two of you. She doesn't look older than thirty, but she seems to be looking for something. She keeps looking you over, as if trying to see the similarities between you and Elesis.

There's a series of guards at the base of the city built into the mountain. They check each of your IDs in turn.

"Rena Lire, pass." She smiles brightly at them and goes through.

"Elsword Sieghart, Ruben citizen... Pass." You nod and enter the city.

"Speka Cerise… This ID card says your condition is an error, miss," says the guard, frowning. "Forged?"

"Yup," she says nonchalantly, pulling another one out of her purse. "Try this one. At least the name on it is actually mine."

He swipes it. "Aisha Landar. Condition unknown, presumed dead. Pass."

She snatches the card back from him and follows you and Rena into the city. "This is why I really should only carry one card," she gripes.

All around you, there are signs of destruction. Shops have caved in. People are crying. A little girl is being lifted away on a stretcher. A group of people are trying to put out a fire. You feel sick to your stomach all of a sudden.

Rena had mentioned a bombing. Was the Alteran government responsible for this?

Soon, you enter the mountainside part of the city. It's mostly housing and hidden bunkers of food and supplies. In one of her emails, your sister told you that there was a hidden library in one section of the mountainside city, where one of her younger friends, Allegro, works on coding and uncovering old news articles. You wonder if she'll let you see it.

As the three of you wander deeper into the mountain, Rena stops in front of a large, busy doorway. "I really need to get back to the hospital," she apologizes, "but I'll have my friend bring you to Elesis. He knows her better than I do."

"Wait," says Aisha quickly, causing Rena to stop and turn around. "You said hospital?"

"Yes," frets Rena. Only now do you see the rolls of bandages strapped to her waist, the first aid kit she carries on her back. "So many people were hurt after they dropped the bomb. Thankfully, the majority of the damage is to the buildings, but… The hospital is filling up quickly. My prior occupation gave me some knowledge of healing and medical care, so they need me there…"

Without a moment's hesitation, Aisha speaks. "Take me with you."

Both you and Rena stare at her like she's insane. "I've read enough books on these things," she argues. "I can help."

Rena sighs. "We really do need more help," she admits. "Elsword, I'll get Raven to take you to see your sister. Wait here."

They disappear into the building. After what feels like an eternity, a tired-looking man squeezes his way out, wrapped in the long white coat of a doctor. You doubt he's actually a doctor, but he looks like he could slice you in half with his gaze alone. "Rena sent me to take you to see Elesis," he grunts. "Name's Raven."

Amidst all the excitement, your mind connects the dots. "Raven… You were one of the leaders of the revolution with my sister, weren't you?" You ask.

Raven doesn't respond. You can't help but notice that one of his hands is a silvery prosthetic.

You pass by what has to be a thousand people and doors before Raven finds the passage he's looking for. The two of you climb a staircase up to a second layer, before crossing a hallway and taking another staircase down two floors.

Finally, Raven stops. "There you go."

There are so many people swarming in and out of the door that there's literally a man standing at the door as a security guard. "Hey, Raven," he yells. "Heard they transferred you to nurse duty. What're you doing back here?"

"Rena's orders," he shouts back. "Got to bring this kid up to our Red Haired Knight up there."

You're kinda pissed that he'd called you a kid, but you can't make your voice heard over the din of the crowd.

The man at the door looks at you. "Are you Elesis' brother?" He asks.

"Yes," you yell, hoping it reached him.

"Good," he replies just as loudly. "She could probably use some moral support right now."

You fight your way through the crowd into the house. There are people moving in and out, placing papers down on every flat surface and snatching them back up in moments. You can hardly breathe in the mess, so you hold you breath and squeeze through the bodies, up the stairs.

The upper level suddenly becomes familiar to you. Your sister has sent you multiple photographs of this house. You might just know it better than anyone else here.

You run to the end of the hallway. On the right is the closet next to the bathroom, as expected. On the left is a half-open door.

 _Elsa's room._

There's someone arguing inside. "Elesis, there are just too many people for the hospital to manage," says someone. A male voice, possibly in his teenage years. "We can't just put them all in there. We're going to run out of hands and supplies.

"Are you saying we should let them die, then?" Her voice is rougher, coarser than you remember, but it's still her. "Allegro, do you even realize what you're saying? These are people! With families!"

Without bothering to consider it, you turn your shoulder to the door and burst in.

The boy at the window, who you presume to be Allegro, is caught in his speech, his voice faltering as your sister turns around in her office chair. Her hair is still up in that pineapple crown you used to tease her about, and the necklace you bought her for good luck before the uprising is still lying on her chest.

She's still Elesis. Still your sister.

"Sis," you call out, your voice cracking. "Elsa."

She stops mid-sentence, her words dropping like hailstones. "Elsword, she gasps. "Oh my El."

You run halfway across the room as she leaps out of her chair to intercept you. "It's been five years," you exclaim, burying your face in her hair. It smells smoky, like wood chips.

"It's been too long," sighs Elesis, her grip on you softening.

"Please don't just up and leave again," you tell her. When she doesn't respond, you squeeze her shoulders gently. "Elesis?"

You can only barely catch her before she falls to the ground, unconscious.

"Sis? SIS!"

* * *

 **A/N: seriously guise protect your books don't put them face down it will destroy the spine of the book I have yelled at my sister one too many times for this reason. also don't move people who have passed out that's not safe and remember you need sleep my friend went for two days without sleep and threw up in the middle of class**

 **Thank you to user EternaPhoenix and guest user The Guest for reviewing! Can I just say I cried tears of joy when I saw the reviews**

 **To answer your question, EternaPhoenix, yes, I am a female writer! Although I do know some guys who watch Yuri on Ice too... More like our squad dragged them in.** **a moment of silence for the fallen souls**

 **Another announcement! Starting tonight, I will be posting each chapter on Archive of Our Own! This is for users who prefer to read on AO3. Personally, I'm more accustomed to Fanfiction's interface, since I only got AO3 very recently, but most of my friends operate mainly out of AO3, and I'm sure lots of you guys do too! I'm also going to be linking my tumblr tag for Blink on AO3, which includes blueprints, maps and character reference sheets, as well as clothing design changes. The author's notes will also be a slightly different to accommodate, but overall should remain unchanged. Hope you enjoy!**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	8. Chapter 8

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 8

The guards at the border of Feita let Raven through pretty easily.

So why the fuck aren't they letting you through?

"Miss, your ID says you're from Altera," says one of them.

"What does that have to do with anything?" You snap. "Why can't I seek refuge if I'm from Altera?"

"Miss, are you even listening to yourself?" Says the other one. "That's _Altera_ we're talking about. The heart of Elrios. The pinnacle of greatness. You have no need to stoop yourself as low as we mere Feitans. Go back to Altera and live in peace."

There's a bitter lining in his words that doesn't settle quite right with you. Before you know it, you're shaking all over in anger.

"That's right," snorts the first guard. "Back where you belong, not with us _plebs_."

"Rena," warns Raven, standing inside the city.

He makes no active move to stop you, though, and frankly, you've given enough fucks already.

You march up to the guard and pick him up the front of his collar. "I walked out of Altera in the middle of the night," you hiss, "after two kind, decent human beings did their darndest to stop an absolute asshole from leaving scars over my back. I walked nearly fifty kilometres to escape a fucking madman, and I walked another twenty kilometres to get here. I'm not taking no for a fucking answer."

For a moment, the four of you are silent. The other guard has a knife in hand. Raven looks like he's about to kill either the guards or you, and he can't decide who.

The guard in your hands is turning blue. "Miss, please just let me go," he squeaks. "I'll let you in, but I'm not entirely sure if they'll let you stay…"

Raven snorts. "Just take us to Elesis Sieghart," he says. "She'll give us somewhere to stay."

He glares at you pointedly. "It would be nice if you could drop him now," he says.

You let go of the fabric in your hands. The guard drops back to the ground, gasping for air.

"Follow me," he says, hand clasped to his throat. "I'll take you to General Sieghart, but I must warn you, she's very busy."

Thankfully, the buzzers don't go off when you follow him into the mountainside city. It's beautiful looking at it from a distance, but from up close, you can really tell when the modern architecture meets ancient artwork.

You recall reading about the city once, in Altera. Before the confederation of Elrios, Feita was a small colony, mainly consisting of people living in tents and some in the temple. It was said that once, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to Feita to pray in the temple and wish for a bountiful harvest. While the temple is no longer a tourist site, the mountain that it was built into became home to the thousands that gave up their nomadic lifestyles in tents.

Somehow, you'd expected the city to be slanted, for it to have layers built upon layers on top of the rolling hills. Instead, you're greeted with the sight of a city built _into_ the mountain itself. You can see places where walls and shops are half inside the mountain and half outside, but the many layers that cascade down the side of the mountain still fill you with awe.

"Welcome to Feita!" Says a girl, running up to you and grinning. "Hope you enjoy your stay here!"

"Oh… Okay," you say sheepishly. "Thank you…"

She runs off to join her friends, telling them something that requires a lot of hand gestures. You wonder if they're talking about you.

"If I may make bold to ask you, sir," says the guard, clearing his throat as he turns to Raven, "why are you looking for General Sieghart? I mean, not many people are here to see her, you're honestly the first people I've had looking for her."

Raven makes eye contact with you for a split second before looking away. "You don't remember the rebellions," he mutters. "Let's just say that Sieghart and I are old friends."

The guard seems to get the idea and shuts up.

The three of you walk on in silence as the noisy city seems to close in on you. Even as you wander deeper into the mountain, there is still life that goes on. The natural sunlight turns to soft artificial lights above that sway with the breeze.

The streets straighten out and stop curving around. The few sparse market stalls that covered the surface grow exponentially in number on the inside. The artificial streets are bustling with life, not to the level of Velder's chaotic marketways but a comfortable, familiar feeling.

It's almost… Cozy, in a sense.

A group of children squeeze by you, each waving a stick of candy in the air. They disappear into the seemingly indifferent crowd, draining through the older residents like water through a sieve.

The guard leads you and Raven beyond the market, further into the mountainside. The busy streets turn to calmer ones. The colourful signs fade out into gray stone walls, doors replacing the stalls and simple black numbers nailed up next to them.

There are less side streets in this section of the city, just homes. A woman opens her door as you pass by, nearly smacking Raven in the face. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," she frets, bowing.

Raven immediately turns bright red. "Uh… No need to be sorry," he assures her. "No one was hurt, so it's alright."

She keeps apologizing to him until the guard clears his throat. "Um, ma'am, I have to take these visitors to see General Sieghart," he apologizes, ushering the two of you beyond the doorway. "Have a nice day, ma'am."

You leave the woman behind, continuing on into the residential area of Feita. The numbers seem the shrink the farther in you go-00057, 00055, 00053.

Finally, at 00026, the guard stops. "She lives here," he says. "I'm not sure if she's open for a consultation, though."

He knocks on the door three times, sharply and swiftly. "General Sieghart, you have visitors,"

" _Door's already open, just come in_."

He turns to the two of you and bows. "I bid you have a good day, sir, ma'am," he says. "And… I'm sorry about the hassle at the border."

You smile. "All's well that ends well," you tell him. "Thank you for bringing us here."

As you and Raven enter Elesis Sieghart's home, Raven turns to you. "Kindness doesn't get you anywhere, Rena," he tells you. "You need to be prepared for the world outside Altera."

"Right now, kindness is all I have," you remind him.

The house is only sparsely furnished. A small kitchen in one corner of the room connects to a dining room, which doubles as a lobby. There's a living room with a couch and a coffee table that's covered in papers, as well as a television set. A flight of stairs is directly across from door, leading upstairs.

You follow Raven across the room and up the stairs. There's a bathroom to the right, a small one. At the end of the hallway is an open bedroom door.

As you walk in, you don't know what you were expecting. Elesis Sieghart is tall, not quite as tall as you are but tall enough that she doesn't walk face-first into Raven's chest. "It's been so long, Raven!" She whoops, giving him a hug. She has long red hair that's tied up in a little bunch at the top of her head, like a pineapple. When she turns around, you see that she's wearing a black shirt and black shorts underneath her long white jacket. Despite the cold draft in the room, she's barefoot.

Elesis turns to you. For an awkward moment, she blinks at you, probably scrutinizing your every feature. Then, her eyes go wide. "Raven-"

"This is Rena," says Raven, his voice lowered again. He's taking a defensive stance as he walks over to your side. "She's an escapee from Altera. We came here to avoid the Alterans."

Elesis' red eyes flicker with nervous energy. "It's nice to meet you, Rena!" She says, taking your hand and shaking it firmly. "I'm Elesis Sieghart. I worked with Raven in the uprising five years ago."

 _The rebellion. Five years ago. Worked with Raven._

 _Does she know… Who Seris is?_

You smile warmly at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too," you manage.

"Say, how about I take you around town and get something to eat?" She says, letting your hand go. "Raven, I believe there are some of our old friends who'd like to speak to you. I'll take Rena around, since she's never been here."

The way she smiles tells you that it's an order, not a request. "We can meet up back here later," you supply. "It's so nice in the city, you should see Velder!"

"I've heard stories," she laughs, swinging an arm across your shoulders. "Come on, Rena, let's go get something to eat.

Raven looks like he could strangle the both of you right now, but says nothing as Elesis guides you out of the house.

* * *

 _Feita City Market, 7:42 pm._

Elesis studies you curiously, like you're a brand new specimen of some exotic species. "Are you sure you can't remember anything?" She asks as the two of you enter the marketplace. Unlike Velder's chaotic market square, this one has stalls running down either side of a road. It's still busy, but at least the two of you have enough space to stand in line at a small stall.

"My earliest memory I have is waking up, five years ago," you affirm. The words seem hollow to you, though, as you repeat them for the millionth time. "I can't remember anything about my life before that."

Elesis smiles. "Well, at least you can remember coming to visit me from now on, she jokes, poking your side with her elbow.

"By the way, what are we lining up for?" You ask.

Her eyes twinkle with mischief. "Oh, you'll see."

It only takes a few minutes for the two of you to reach the front of the line. In Velder it might have taken half an hour. "Good evening, Viva," says Elesis. "Rena, this is Vivace. Viva, this is Rena."

Vivace seems to be about your age. She has pink hair braided and piled into a bun at the nape of her neck. "Hello there," she says, her voice coarse and loud, like every other person in this mess. "I'm assuming you're visiting. Two of the regular?"

"Actually, could you make one regular, one veggie?" Says Elesis, retrieving a small wallet from her jacket pocket and opening it. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a stack of business cards in each layer of the wallet.

And suddenly you're thrown back in your memories. A girl who liked to collect business cards, who stashed them all in her jacket pocket.

This isn't the first time you've met Elesis Sieghart, and you're sure of it.

You blink. She's already paid for the food, and is dragging you to one side while Vivace takes the next order. Soon, two paper plates are slid out of a little window in the plastic shield.

Elesis picks up both and hands one to you. "Enjoy," she says, picking up one of the skewers on her plate and ripping off the first piece of meat with her teeth. "Absolutely delightful."

Your own skewers are comprised of mushrooms, onions, bell peppers and some strange blocks of what appears to be a meat substitute. "How did you know I was vegetarian?" You ask in amazement as you slide the first piece of mushroom off the skewer.

"I had a hunch," says Elesis, shrugging. She's already eaten an entire skewer. "The weird block things are tofu. They're actually pretty damn good."

You bite into one to find it soft and white on the inside, a crunchy gold on the outside, and all covered in a fragrant barbeque sauce. At this point, you've really stopped caring about your image. You scarf down the remaining food just as quickly as Elesis.

"How about we go get some bubble tea?" Suggests Elesis.

"I'll pay," you offer, following after her.

"Oh, no, you really shouldn't," she frets. "You're my guest. Besides, it would look weird for the both of us."

You really don't deserve her kindness. She's only being kind to you because she's friends with Raven, and you're a heavy burden on him. Someday, you'll find a way to repay her in full.

You follow her to another stand, where a man is shaking a bottle aggressively. "Morning, general!" He says, despite the time. "How are things looking?"

"Pretty great right now, Presto," laughs Elesis. "Lemme get two small milk teas, with the black and white tapioca."

"That'll be one-forty-eight, general," he says. "But for you-"

Elesis has already slapped the money on the counter. "None of this shit," she says, eyes burning, though her playful smile gives her away. "I'm still a resident of Feita. "None of this special "general" shit."

"Right," concedes Presto, scooping up the money and putting it in his pocket. "Two panda milk teas, coming right up."

He quickly assembles both, pouring milk into two cups, adding a spoon of black and white tapioca to each, then pouring black tea into each. The dark tea drains between the tapioca, seeping into the milk and turning it to a warm brown.

"Here you go," he says, putting a lid on each. "And for each of you, a nice straw."

He opens a box from under his counter. There are hundreds of multicoloured straws that pop up.

"Do you have a curly straw?" asks Elesis playfully.

Presto chuckles. "Unfortunately, that we do not, general, but we do have these." He drops a white- and red-striped straw in her cup. It looks like a candy cane, the type that Eve likes to keep in her penthouse during the holidays. "And you, miss?"

It takes you a moment to realize he's talking to you. "Ah, anything will do. Thank you!" You tell him as he sticks a green straw with a vine pattern in your cup.

"Come again!" He says as the two of you leave the stall behind.

"You know, Raven nearly choked on a tapioca when I first introduced him to bubble tea," says Elesis, chewing a few of her own. "We were all screaming at him and pounding his back. Eventually Allegro did the Heimlich maneuver on him and he spat it out like a bullet."

The two of you laugh for a moment. "What else do you want to eat?" She asks. "We've got herbal juice down the road, fried crackers over there… There's so much here. You can eat whatever you want."

"How about we just wander around, buy some stuff to eat and just sit down and talk?" You suggest.

"Sounds good to me," she agrees.

Fifteen minutes later, you're trying to hold the remainder of your bubble tea in one hand, a lovely clover salad in the other and a paper bag of apple fries hanging off your pinkie. Elesis holds her own bubble tea and a small salad, though you're pretty sure she has some grilled chicken on hers.

The two of you wander out of the mountain, into the outer rings of the city. It takes a while because you're holding so much food, but you and Elesis climb up a few rocks to sit on top of what might have once been a pillar from the temples of old.

Wild grass blows all around you, drifting in the wind. It kind of reminds you of Eve and Chung in a sad way. The scent of the apple fries don't help much.

Elesis takes a sip of her bubble tea, watching each tapioca pearl rise up the straw intently. "So, what do you wanna talk about?" She asks, mouth full of tapioca.

You ponder for a moment. "Can you tell me about Seris?"

She swallows down the tapioca, sets down her bubble tea and looks you in the eye. "Rena, how long have you known Raven?" She asks.

"About a year," you admit. "Once I arrived in Velder, everyone kept saying I look like Seris, but I still have no idea who she is."

Elesis is silent again. "You do look a lot like Seris," she confirms. "Seris is-well, she was Raven's fiancee during our protests."

"Oh." The reality finally hits you. It must be incredibly painful for Raven, having to see and take care of someone who looks just like his late beloved everyday. Silently, you thank him for being so tolerant of you and putting up with you for so long."

"Don't get me wrong, you're very different from Seris," chuckles Elesis. "You have a gentle soul. You're not a fighter at heart. Seris was a planner, a tactician. She planned all our protests, where we'd do them for the best effect, what time of day we'd do it. As much as Raven may deny it, Seris was the lifeline of our team."

"Who was the last member?" You ask. "I heard he ended up in Sander or something."

Elesis' eyes turn dark. "Alex," she mutters. "His dad was from Elder but he was born in Velder. He kept thinking that he was higher up than all of us, kept telling us that he'd rise up above all of us. The dirty bastard turned us in to the Alteran police the day before our final protest. Raven and Seris helped me over a fence and I got out of Altera, but the Hamelians ended up catching me over their border."

She winces. "Seris died in that mess," she explains softly. "Raven lost his arm trying to protect her. Once we lost Seris, the revolution fell apart."

The two of you sit in silence, watching the sun go down in the distance. "It sure is pretty, isn't it," you murmur.

"Yeah," sighs Elesis. "I've lived here for five years and the sunset is still as stunning as ever.

As you lean back and open your bag of (heavenly!) apple fries, a dark spot flies across the horizon. You blink a few times, but it doesn't disappear.

"Elesis," you say slowly, "is it just me, or is that black dot coming towards us?"

Her eyes grow wide with every word. "Fuck," she mutters, swallowing down her tea. "FUCK! We need to get inside. Now."

You're frozen in shock until she stands up. "MOVE IT, RENA!" She barks. Her tea and salad spill across the pillar as she drops them. "Those are Alteran bombers coming for us. We need to get everyone inside, quickly."

The sheer force of her voice shocks you awake, getting you on your feet. You down the last of your bubble tea and toss the cup aside as Elesis grabs your hand and begins to jump down the colossal rocks that form the city. You can barely shove the salad into your bag of apple fries as you struggle not to look down the steep drops, your heart beating faster with every step you take.

"RAISE THE BARRIER!" Shouts Elesis when the two of you reach the outer city. "THERE'S AN ALTERAN BOMBER COMING THIS WAY!" She grabs a running child by his collar. "GET TO THE EMERGENCY BUNKERS!"

A wave of fear washes over you as Elesis grabs a red umbrella from a nearby store and waves it in the air. "I REPEAT, RAISE THE BARRIER!" She screams again.

As the panic begins to set in the general public, the chaos of the crowd begins to bring you down. A siren goes off somewhere in the city. Three frantic ladies rush out of the shop where Elesis grabbed the umbrella, knocking you aside.

Elesis whirls around. "Rena!" She grabs your hand and drags you up to your feet. "You need to find Raven-no, find Lento. Lento can activate the barrier," she says hurriedly. "I need to stay here to make sure everyone gets out and that the barrier works. We don't have enough time to put the entire barrier up, the bomber is too close to us…"

She grabs your shoulders. "If we don't see each other again, I'm glad that I met you," she says, smiling wryly. "Your sharp eyes saved hundreds of people, Rena. El be with you."

You nod at her once, trying to find the strength to smile but failing. "El be with you," you echo before you run, pushing through the struggling crowd. There are tall people and short people and crying elders and screaming children, but you keep your eyes up high, hoping to Raven's black hair somewhere.

"Rena!" Someone catches your hand and holds on tight. You're whipped through the chaos, tugged into a side alley. "Where's Elesis?" Demands Raven, his eyebrows furrowed.

"She stayed behind to make sure everyone got out," you gasp. "Where's Lento? He needs to raise the barrier!"

"He already went to do that," he says. "I need to go find Elesis. Fucking Siegharts don't know the meaning of the word danger…"

" _We_ need to go find Elesis," you correct. "I'm not going to the shelters. I have nothing to lose."

Raven doesn't even respond. He just runs. You follow him.

Even as you rush back towards the outer city, you can see the huge dome closing over the outer city. You get the idea that it was built to be only a light shield, meant to save the citizens, not the structures. The impact of any explosive against this dome would cause the shield to shatter into pieces, but the worst of it wouldn't hit the citizens.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Elesis and a tall man behind a large rock of the outer city, one of the handful that make up the framework between the inner and outer. They seem to be pushing against two handles with all their might.

"There!" You yell at Raven, dragging him over towards them.

Elesis' eyes go wide when she sees you coming over. "No, no, NO! You're supposed to be in the bomb shelters with everyone else!" She shouts angrily. "Why aren't you in the bomb shelters like everyone else?!"

You shove yourself against the large handle next to her. "We work together," you tell her above the distant hum of the barrier closing overhead. "Save more lives while we can."

Raven brings the two of you down, smashing you against the ground. "Get down," he yells, "There's no time left!"

You're only faintly aware of a warm body pressing all three of you to the ground before the screams of a million souls rip your world to pieces.

* * *

 _From dust to dust_.

There's a fine layer of white dust settling on your hands when you open your eyes. The weight on your back has been lifted, but even as you blink, the dust makes your eyes water.

A bit travels to your nose. You can't help but sneeze, violently blowing the snowy layer off your hands. The white cloud drifts up in the dying sunrays, capturing the last rich orange sunrays as they die overhead.

"Rena."

You roll over onto your side. Raven is sitting next to you, his face covered in ash and his eyes red. "You're alright," he breathes, pulling you up and wrapping you in a massive bear hug.

It feels odd for Raven to be holding you so close to him, especially after Elesis told you about Seris, but you accept his embrace. "You're alright too," you whisper, your voice hoarse.

There's a cough on your other side. You turn away from Raven to find Elesis lying on the floor beside you. You give her your hand and haul her up. "Do you need some water?" You ask, hacking out a cough yourself.

Elesis shakes her head before suddenly going stiff. "Lento."

You were wondering who had tucked all three of you in at the moment of the blast. As you turn around, Lento tries to smile.

"It's only a little shrapnel, I swear," he says. "You guys aren't hurt, are you?"

His entire back is covered in blood, seared from the heat of the explosion. You can barely even make them out at first, but there are three large pieces of some metal, lodged in his back and his shoulder.

"Lento, you dumb fuck," says Elesis, her voice hoarse with anger. "Stop trying so hard!"

He winces. "A little bomb like that isn't going to be enough to kill me," he says, gritting his teeth. "Though I could probably use some medical attention right about now."

"Wait." You stand up, ignoring the ringing in your head. The outer city has been decimated, and much of the inner city is too. While the inner city's damage is mostly from the shock of the explosion, the entire dome has collapsed in on itself, shattered to pieces that rained down upon the city. The closest piece of the barrier is a mere two metres away from the wall, a piece that was likely blasted from the very top.

One of the shops you see destroyed is a little clothing store up ahead. You jog over to it, digging in the rubble for any sense of fabric. A lot of the wares are dusty, but you come across what might have once been a plastic tub of scarves, each wrapped up in new plastic bags. A single touch tells you that they're cotton fabric.

You grab as many of the scarves as you can hold, running back to the little group. "Here," you tell them, dropping the packages. "Tell me where I can find alcohol."

Raven raises an eyebrow. "Alcohol?"

"Preferably with a high concentration," you affirm. "Like medical booze?"

"Cantata's pharmacy, eight shops down, left side," says Elesis quickly. "Should we try to remove the shrapnel?"

"No!" You yelp. "Is he still bleeding?"

"Not that I can tell," says Raven.

"Good," you tell him, standing up. "Now wait here while I raid a pharmacy for some medical booze. It would help if you could remove the clothing from his back. _Gently_ , please. Avoid touching the metal, it'll only cause more bleeding."

You're back with three bottles of isopropyl alcohol after a few minutes of digging through the ashes. While the pharmacy itself hasn't been destroyed, one of the walls has tipped over, which made searching a little more painful.

After you pour a little alcohol onto a scarf, you begin to wipe down Lento's back. He grits his teeth, but says nothing as you clean up the blood. "We can't do much about the shrapnel for now," you apologize. "But I'm going to clean out your burns to the best of my ability."

It takes a while, but you manage to clean up the majority of the blood. "Help me wrap him up," you tell Raven and Elesis, ripping open another scarf.

"How do we keep them from flying off?" Asks Elesis. "If we're going to carry him back to the hospital…"

You want to search the fabric shop again, but a flash of red runs through your sight as you try to stand up. "Here," you say, pulling on one end of the long ribbon you use to tie your hair up. The black ribbon whirls around you, letting your hair fall around your face in a blonde curtain as you kneel next to Lento again to secure the fabric down.

Across from you, Elesis and Raven glance at each other. You can't read their expressions well, but you detect some sense of shock from them. It's like they're having a silent conversation about you with only their eyes.

The three of you manage to put Lento on a tarp you find. It's relatively clean, so you dust it off. There's a small bloodstain on one of the corner, but you rip it off.

Right now, you don't want to think about where it's from.

There are screams beginning to arise from within the city. People are coming out to inspect the damage. You start to hear the panic rising again.

As the three of you lift Lento into the city, you get the feeling that it's going to be a long night. As a former Alteran, you have to fulfill your duty to serve the people.

You _have_ to.

* * *

 **A/N: GUISE I'M NOT THAT AWESOME PLZ**

 **Thank you to users EternaPhoenix and Zadred212 for reviewing, and to user Scientist Zimmena I believe for following my progress via Tumblr!**

 **But seriously y'all I'm a sad little mortal potato I am not worthy of your praise**

 **plz do not start cults they are never good ideas read the Orange Papers if you have the time to**

 **my friend from elementary has a fanbase/cult dedicated to him on facebook and seriously guise I'm fucking terrified this is one of the reasons why I don't have facebook**

 **PM me talk to me peeps I crave attention I am a potato**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**

 **UPDATE: FORGOT TO SAY THIS EARLIER BUT THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS WILL BE LONGER THAN THE USUAL 4500-ISH COUNT. HAVE A NICE DAY/NIGHT/W/E.**


	9. Chapter 9

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 9

Three days. You haven't spoken to your brother in three days.

Three days ago, you and Chung were enjoying apple fries and watching the newest episode of the Time Trouble TV adaptation when RS and EM suddenly appeared online. Though you've been too angry to look at the conversations again, the general idea you've gotten is that Feita was bombed, about four days ago, by an Alteran bomber plane.

You immediately lost it. When your brother called you to his study, you had a huge argument with him. While you don't remember the specifics, you do remember calling him a few colourful things. He might have slapped you. You might have slapped him.

Chung bailed you out and hauled you back upstairs again before you could go fully ballistic on him.

You immediately locked yourself in your penthouse afterwards. You sealed off the main entrance, you closed the public bathroom on your story, you even closed the windows of your garden. Moby and Remy peck at your ears in annoyance, but for your safety and theirs, you cannot let them out.

Chung is the only person aside from yourself in your home these past three days. He went out and bought you a jumbo bag of frozen apple fries, as well as some mango sauce. He's been doing a good job of keeping people from trying to sweet-talk their way in.

Your brother keeps trying to unlock your doors, using his remote control over the Core in attempt to get in, but you've got your connection to the Core yourself and you lock them right back up. When he tried to send his personal assistants, Ignis and Leviathan, two brutes that are easily as tall as Chung's father, the two of you barricaded the door with a table.

Heck, he even told them to just break down your door. You avoided that one by threatening to shoot them with your laser pistols, then, when they didn't stop, yourself.

You'd like to think that, given the chance to, you could very much overpower or kill your brother. As much as Adam claims to be powerful, he hides behind a shield of men, of bribed men that carry out his every word. Without them in the way, your brother is a mere mortal, after all.

It's been three days since you stopped talking to your other companions, too. Proto and Apple have been made aware of the situation, and as expected, your hair turns greasy and you gain weight from you lack of motivation to exercise. You haven't logged back into the chat client since your wild conversation with RS and EM, which ended with you slamming your laptop shut and throwing your mouse against the wall.

As you sit in your workshop, fiddling with a few pieces of metal, Chung sits next to you, sketching your form in on his tablet. You have always been jealous of Chung's drawing skills, how he can bring life to simple strokes of a pencil or his stylus. You seem to be his favourite subject; for as long as you've known him, his sketchbooks have been filled with drawings of you in all sorts of circumstances-in formal wear, in a summer dress, in a swimsuit, in pajamas.

"Eve, you're going to have to talk to him eventually," he tells you softly as he fills in a shadow, then switches to the eraser tool to clean up some edges. "There's the soiree your brother is holding tonight. You have to attend."

"I know," you sigh, dropping your creation on the ground and giving it a nudge with your knuckle. The little wind-up toy walks forwards, two of its four legs at a time, before it slowly ends its march. You lean forwards to grab it. "It's just… I can't help them. Don't you feel guilty that they need us to be supportive more than ever, and yet we're sitting up in a fucking tower, being unproductive as fuck and acting like children?"

For a few moments, the only sound in your workshop is the whirring of your exhaust fan and the tapping of Chung's stylus against his tablet. You know you don't swear often, but you're tired and you're angry at so many things.

"You know, I've been thinking about what you said the other day, after the dinner," he says. "How we should just leave Altera."

"I know, we can't," you tell him miserably. "There's like no way we can leave."

"No, there is."

You look up in genuine surprise. Chung has stopped sketching, saving his work and pulling up a sketch of the Alteran plateau. He's clearly been working on it for some time; it's covered in notes and different colours tracing out paths.

"This is Altera." He makes a layer group invisible, leaving only the basic outline of the city. You feel like he must have traced some aerial photograph, but Chung is an impressive artist, and you wouldn't be surprised if he freehanded it.

"This is us." He opens the layer group and makes a single layer visible again. Instantly, two tiny figures pop up on the fiftieth floor of the Core, one in pink and one in blue. "Now, here are people we want to avoid-That is, pretty much everyone."

You wince as about a hundred more figures in dark blue appear, each labeled with their names.

"Now, here are all the ways we can get out of the Core." Another layer in green, this one showing multiple paths leading up and down the skyscraper, through staircases and doors and even down a chandelier. "And here are the ways we can leave Altera." Another layer in red, similarly labeled.

"Yeah, but pretty much all of the these collide in some way with people we know," you point out.

Chung flicks his pen at you. "Not all of them," he assures you, opening the next layer. "There is one way we can get out of Altera without bumping into anyone."

The final layer, a single, continuous line in white, pops up. Down fifteen flights of stairs. Through a service elevator. Then another bunch of stairs. A contingency plan, to go down the main elevator. Leaving by the west wing, through a service corridor then a fire exit. You'll have to deactivate it first, though.

The final step is to leave the plateau. Altera sits on a high elevations than the other parts of Elrios, save for maybe Feita's Mount El and Fahrmann's Peak in Sander. Legend has it that an earthquake caused the plateau to rise up above the rest of Elrios.

The path snakes down a dark part of the plateau, a descending trail that drops into Elder. "What's that?" You ask, tracing the twisting line with your finger.

"I did some snooping around with the satellites," he confesses. "There's a staircase going down that part of the plateau. We can take it down into the forests outside Elder."

He pauses for a moment. "There is, however, an issue," he says slowly. "A segment of the staircase at the bottom is pretty much broken. We'll have to jump down about a flight and a half of stairs to get down to Elder."

The thought lingers in the air as your workshop reverts back to its cacophonic silence. "The chances that we'll get caught or die in the process are ridiculously high," you can't help but point out.

"Yes, but what other choice do we have?" Says Chung, looking down into his tablet in his lap. "I know your brother's not trying to do harm, Eve, but the Morpheus Project is not nothing I can support."

He's right. You can't put up with your brother trying to "contain internal conflict" or whatever he calls it.

"I know he's not trying to do anything bad… But right now, we're the only ones who can do anything about it," you tell him. "Just… Give me some time to think about it, okay?"

"If that's what you want," says Chung.

God, it feels horrible to take his company for granted.

* * *

 _Altera Core, 2:20 pm._

Eve hasn't moved out of the workshop all day. You're starting to get a little worried.

You know she doesn't want to face her brother right now, not after the ugly words they threw at each other. You want nothing more than to just wrap your arms around her and tell her everything's going to be alright, but you concede to silence.

 _Diiiiing dong._

Both of you perk up at the sound of the doorbell, what has to be the thirtieth visitor today. "I'll get it," you assure her.

You push open the only door out of her workshop, into her study. There's only a tiny door out of the study, one that opens into the an old bookshelf. As a child, it was really hard to open that door, but now that you've grown somewhat, it becomes a lot easier to push aside.

You cross the living room, avoiding the various books and papers that Eve has tossed around and grabbing your Destroyer from its stand and running for the door. You find it helps to have your weapon on you when you answer the door, because you're not standing in your armor. At least with your Destroyer, you seem a little more menacing.

"I'm sorry, Lady Nasod will not be seeing anyone right now," you recite as you open the door.

"Oh… Uh, special delivery for Mr. Prince Seiker?"

You wince when the head of the delivery team says your legal name. You never liked it, and after your mother's death, you liked it even less. Your father always called you Chung, and you'll always be Chung to those around you, to those who know you well.

You didn't actually know what your nickname meant until Eve did a little research on it. Chung means blue in one of the three traditional Sanderian languages, which you suppose your father chose for the colour of your eyes.

"Where do I sign?" You ask the delivery guy as the others haul in your order. You had to put a large deposit on your custom order, but with your paycheck, it doesn't seem like a lot in retrospect.

The guy hands you a small tablet and a stylus, much like your own. After a moment of hesitation, you sign it as not Prince Seiker, but as Chung Seiker.

It doesn't feel right. You're no prince, after all.

As you hand the tablet back to the delivery guy, Eve wanders into the lobby, clutching her large bunny plushie to her chest. You can tell the delivery team is a little surprised at seeing the young Lady Nasod in a hoodie and shorts, but they keep their composure. "Thank you," says the lead guy, bowing. "Have a nice day, Sir, Ma'am."

"You too," you tell him stiffly. It kind of disturbs you that he's referring to the two of you as "Sir" and "Ma'am", but Cobo Delivery is very well known for their punctual workers and overall quality service.

"Chung," says Eve as you close the door and lock it, "what did you order that came in such a giant package?"

You smile. The delivery team had to wheel your package in, since you were scared that you'd accidentally damage it otherwise. "Remember the dress I designed for you, a while back?"

Eve gasps. "You _didn't_ ," she says, eyes wide as she begins to unwrap it. "Oh my El."

It's one of your best works, and that's why Eve loves it so much. Perhaps the inverse is also true, but you're still very proud of it. The white dress isn't very long-in fact, it's actually pretty short. There's a collar that splits into three before reaching her chest. A wide ribbon in pale blue is wrapped snugly around her thin waist and drifts into a bow behind her. The skirt flounces out in pleats.

"I just need to see if the special order I placed worked," you say, looking underneath the mannequin. True to her word, your old friend Lucy has put in a unique petticoat. While most dresses have an underlayer to add volume, Lucy's design doubles as a holster for weaponry. While your plan is mostly silent and violence-free, in the event that the two of you should encounter someone, you need to be ready to go."

"What is it?" Eve peers underneath the dress too. "Is that… One of Lucy's designs?"

"It is," you confirm. "You can put your pistols in there, Eve."

Understanding seems to dawn on her. "No," she says, starting to back away. "No, no, no! Chung, this is too dangerous! We're not leaving during the soiree!"

"It's our only chance," you argue, holding her shoulders. She rips away from you. "Eve, this is the only thing we can do to protect our friends."

"Then I'm going alone!" She turns back to you, eyes blazing with golden flames. "If this is the only way, then I'd rather let you stay safe in Altera than put you in risk's way. Only now I've realized that Altera is nowhere near safe for us."

"Eve, do you realize what you're saying?" You tell her, voice beginning to falter. "I'm supposed to be protecting you from harm, milady."

"..." Slowly, Eve's harsh glare begins to melt into liquid gold. "I'm so sorry, Chung," she says, wrapping her arms around you. "Maybe I'm not meant to be a leader, after all. What use am I even? To my brother? To the people?"

"Right now, you're the only hope of the people," you tell her, patting her back gently. "We're going to leave Altera. Because right now, news of the Morpheus Project hasn't gotten out. We can still stop it from destroying Elrios."

Eve nods, her face buried in your Kevlar vest. She exhales, just like her father told her to when she panicked as a child.

"We can do this. Elrios is safe."

* * *

 _Altera Core, 5:18 pm._

Eve doesn't have many shampoos in her own bathroom, because Apple always washes her hair for her. There's half a bottle of lavender shampoo, though, so while Eve sits in her hot tub with her knees drawn up to her chest, you try to wash her hair for her.

"On a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think Apple and Proto will be at me for not doing anything for the past three days?" She asks, her voice drowning in the roar of the bubbling water. "I mean, I pretty much just sat there for three days without moving."

"Do you want an honest answer or a Christmas answer?" You sigh, combing your fingers through Eve's scalp. Since she hasn't washed it since her lock-in, it's getting curly, like her late mother's hair. For this look, however, you have a hair accessory that will go nicely with straightened hair.

"An honest answer, please," she says, flicking bubbles out of her hair.

"Like, an eleven," you admit. "Honestly, I think they work you too hard."

She makes a squeaking noise when you pour some warm water over her head to clean out the suds. "You know, Apple has a crush on Proto," she says, shaking her head out. "And if she even knows, I don't think Proto even cares."

It strikes you as odd that Eve would know about these things, but then again, she's incredibly perceptive. "I think they knew each other from before," she continues. "And Apple has just been trying to get closer to her for a long time." A pause. "I hope she'll find her happy ending without us."

"Are you wrapped up?" You ask. "You can come out of the water now. I need to dry your hair."

Her towel is dripping wet, but she's still covered. As she sits in her fluffy white bathrobe, you gently lift it up and dry it off.

It takes a long time to comb it out, and an even longer time to straighten it. Eve tells you not to bother with heat protectant, but you give her hair a spritz before you bust out the creaky old hair iron, anyway. Her hair tends to curl the more she washes it, which gets really annoying when you try and straighten her bangs out. You end up having to cut them a little, to make them more even.

When Eve comes out of her closet wearing your design, your chest swells with pride. She looks like an angel in white. You had her username Battle Seraph in mind when you designed this dress and added Lucy's innovative holster petticoat to it.

 _Battle Seraph._

If anything, she is your masterpiece, your magnum opus.

"Shall we go, milady?" You ask, smiling as she grabs her clutch bag.

"Of course," she responds, taking your hand.

She is your lady. You are her knight.

* * *

 _Altera Core Banquet Hall, 6:03 pm_

The soiree is a lot more chaotic than you'd expected.

There are more people than you're accustomed to, for one. Waiters float around the room with glasses of fine wines and spirits, bowing deeply as they move on to the next guest. There's five tables dedicated solely to the buffet, as well as a large area covered in seats for those eating. The string quartet plays gracefully as the dancing sweep across the room with their long gowns and sparkling jewelry.

As expected, your brother finds you almost immediately in the chaos. "Evangeline!" His smile is jovial, but you resist the urge to slap it off his face. "My, my, what are you wearing? This dress is lovely, but what about that black one I had ordered for you?"

You try not to glance at Chung, who seems to be having a silent standoff with Ignis and Leviathan. "A private designer worked hard on this dress for me," you explain. Not a lie, just not the whole truth. "I thought it would be a shame to not wear it at such a nice event."

"Yes, but the black dress would have matched your fiance's ensemble," says Adam, forcing out each word like he's in pain.

You shrug. "At least now you won't be able to lose me in this mess," you supply. "I'll probably be over at the macaron mountain. Tell your chefs that they did a good job."

Before he can say anything else, you grab Chung by the shoulder and drag him away. "Let's get something to eat," you mutter to him.

He doesn't respond.

The macarons today are puffy but not hollowed. You grab the pair of tongs that is hanging off the little hook next to the mountain and pick out a few-a blue macaron with white filling, a green one with dark chocolate, and a pink one with frilly feet that cracks when you apply too much pressure to its shell.

A waiter is instantly at your side. "Would you like me take that away, Lady Nasod?" She asks, a pair of tongs in her white gloved hand.

"That will be quite alright, thank you," you tell her. She seems a little disappointed, but bows her head and turns away. You turn back to the dessert stand, looking for something nice to eat. You pick up a few cream puffs and a delightful little tart before you turn over to the hors d'oeuvres and the rest of the buffet.

Chung, unlike you, prefers salty foods over sweet, and has a few little pastrami flowers on his plate already. You scoop up a bite of potato salad(you know the chefs always put apple chunks in it) and a small sushi roll with some exotic fish or other.

As the two of you sit down to enjoy your food, another waiter comes along with a tray of drinks. "May I interest either of you in a beverage?" He offers.

You and Chung share a look. "Do you have something fruity?" You ask.

"We have a delightful Merlot with just that, Lady," he says, handing you a glass. "Please, if you don't like it, I'll take it away."

As you accept the glass, you take in a deep breath. The light scent of rosebuds registers in your mind. You take a little sip; it's not incredibly dry, which is nice, and the slight fruity and floral taste is pleasant. "This will be alright, thank you," you tell him.

The waiter beams at you. "My pleasure, Lady. And you, good sir?"

Chung goes wide eyed. He's technically on duty, but this is a party. You smile at him to let him know that he can loosen up a little. "I'll have the Merlot too, I guess," he says.

"Thank you, Sir, Ma'am," says the waiter, handing Chung his glass. "If there's anything else we can help you with, please just call out to me or any of the other servers."

"That will not be necessary," you assure him. "Thank you for your service."

He bows deeply, leaving you and Chung at your table. "Cheers to a better life?" Says Chung as he raises his glass, giving you a half-hearted smile.

"Cheers to a better life," you agree, clinking your glass against his. As you sip your wine, you can see the reflection of Chung's gaze in the rim of your glass.

It's the last meal you'll have in Altera, the last night, the last dance. You've called this palace your home for twenty years, but now you've grown up. You're no longer the creative young daughter of the Nasods. You're a woman, and more importantly, you're your own person. While you may still be in Adam's shadow, this is your chance to shine above him.

As the night whittles away and the waiters arrive to sweep away your empty dishes, you begin to turn to the dance floor. "Eve, am I even allowed to dance with you?" Whispers Chung frantically as you partially drag him out, partially lean on him for support as your heels begin to hurt. While the shoes are comfortable, you've never been fond of heels, and they are no exception.

"I can issue a direct order if you want," you offer.

"... I think that's a little overkill," he admits, before sweeping into a low bow. "May I have this dance, milady?"

"Of course you may," you tell him, a smile blooming on your face. Chung's not a bad dancer, at least in comparison to your feeble dancing skills. The entire room seems to freeze as you silently thank Ishmael that if you're going to die tonight, at least you got to spend your last night with your best friend.

When the quartet changes to a faster piece, you can't help but playfully spin around in circles with Chung, even though your dress is not the type to be spinning around. Your heels are telling you to stop, but the adrenaline in your blood tells you to keep moving. Skirts billow around you as the other dancers fly into a fine fury, stepping with the sweet singing of the violin and the bitter hum of the deep cello.

As the two of you dance, you spot Adam out of the corner of your eye, coming towards you. It worries you that he has Add with him.

"Oh shit," you whisper. Chung doesn't understand at first, until you spin him around and he sees them for himself.

"Oh shit indeed," he mutters back as the two of you stop dancing.

"Evangeline." Your brother's voice is regretful, like he's been considering this for a while now. "I'd like to apologize for the words that transpired between us in our anger."

Very well. You can work with it. If you're going to leave Altera tonight, you might as well apologize to your brother. "I'd like to apologize too," you tell him, folding your hands in your lap like a proper young lady. "I acted irrationally, and improperly."

Adam smiles. "I hope our future conversations will be more civil and proper," he says. "For now, your fiance would like to dance with you."

You can't even look Add in the eye properly, but you smile at him all the same. "Of course," you coo, taking his hand as you turn sternly to Chung. "Seiker."

"Yes, milady," says Chung, taking his attention stance. You never refer to him as just Seiker, but for this purpose, the two of you have made an agreement to be formal.

"You are dismissed for the night," you tell him. "Ensure that my door is locked on your way up."

When he bows to you, your heart threatens to tear apart. "Of course, milady," he says, turning to your brother and Add. "Good evening to you too, sirs."

As Chung leaves, Add smiles at you. "How have you been these past three days, Evangeline dear?" He asks. You've always found his eyes creepy, or strange at the very least. While white hair is fairly common amongst Alterans, Add has purple eyes that always look like he's up to no good. You figure it probably has something to do with the aura of mystery that always surrounds him.

The entirety of the staff of the Core love him. You hate his guts.

"I have been well," you tell him as he rests a hand on your waist and you struggle to not squirm away. The music changes to a slower, more romantic number, but one of the violinists is horribly off tune, giving the whole piece the same kind of disfigured eeriness as the old alarm on your toaster oven.

"That sounds alright." Add glances at the quartet. "My, the musicians really outdid themselves this time around, didn't they?"

"Yes," you murmur, wondering if you can opt out of this dance. Chung is doubtlessly waiting for you up in your room, possibly having a heart attack for each tick of the clock while you're not there.

As a waiter with a tray of drinks passes by you, though, you're suddenly hit with inspiration. "Excuse me," you tell him, untangling your arms from his. "I need to use the ladies' room."

Add flashes a lazy smile at you. For a moment, you think you see the sclera of his eyes turn black, but when you blink, his eyes are still normal. "I can wait, Evangeline dearest," he says, stroking your face.

You want to fucking slap him.

It takes a while to get out of the room, if only because there are so many other people in your way, but eventually, you find your way out. "Lady Nasod!" A straggling waiter runs up to you. "Are you alright? Do you require any assistance?"

"I am alright," you respond. "If my brother or my fiance are looking for me, tell them that I am not feeling well, and that I have retired to my quarters."

Without any further explanation, you head into the open elevator. When the door finally closes and the elevator begins to rattle up, you take a moment to take a deep breath.

You admit that Add does have the looks of a high Alteran, but his eyes aren't anything you've ever seen in a normal Alteran. Maybe your eyes are just playing tricks on you. Perhaps Add is just a normal citizen of Altera that you never knew until you were fifteen.

You don't want to know him, though, and you certainly don't want to marry him.

So, for your own sake and for that of the people of Elrios, you _must_ leave Altera.

When the elevator doors finally opens, Chung is already waiting with your door wide open. "Hurry," he says, grabbing your hand and pulling you inside. "How did you get out of the dance?"

"I told him I needed to take a piss," you mutter as you open your laptop, typing in the password for what could be the last time ever. "And then I hightailed it out here."

Before you left for the dance, you started transferring all the contents of your laptop onto your portable hard drive. After all, your brother can't have evidence of your plans and projects. The progress is painfully slow, even with the quality of your computer. You tuck your tablet, which is way more portable, into a pocket of your petticoat. "Ninety three percent," you mutter, grabbing your packed bag and heading for your balcony.

Moby and Remy instantly perk up when you walk into the garden and stand near the window. "Chung, where's your bag?" You ask as you hand yours over to Remy, who grips onto the strap like a clamp. Chung comes in and gives his bag to Moby; the peregrine falcon can hold up the weight of all of Chung's ammo.

"Moby, Remy," you tell them, looking each in the eye. "Do you remember where the peach tree is?"

At the sound of the words "peach tree", the two of them of them chirp in approval. The old peach tree is near the west wing of the Core, where you and Chung will be leaving. "Moby, Remy, I need you two to fly down to the peach tree and stay there until you hear Chung and I coming your way. Are we clear?"

You don't know if your birds understood it, but they've grown up listening to you speak Elrian, and they seem to have understood. "Okay." You turn around and reach for the latch on the window. You force it upwards with all your strength.

Slowly, the latch gives way and the window swings open into the night sky. "Go," you tell them.

They don't hesitate a heartbeat. Moby's white underbelly and Remy's silvery white plumage disappear into the darkness in the moment that you blink.

You rush back to the living room, where Chung is watching your computer. "Ninety seven percent," he says, clenching his fist in frustration. "We're not going to have enough time."

"Let's just hope this works first," you tell him. "And that we won't die on the way down."

 _Diiiiing dong._

"Evangeline, love?"

The two of you instantly freeze. The sound of your fiance's voice seems to snap the both of you back to reality. Slowly, you turn around to face Chung, who's still kneeling at your computer in his full armor.

"Oh, fuck," he whispers.

And to be honest, you think that sums up the situation pretty well.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm in a state of constant screaming guess who volunteered to go first for her English speech**

 **anyways I realized that there are some time gaps that probably need some explanation?**

 **Chapters 1 and 2 happen on the same day, I think I said it was Sunday. Chapter 3 and 6, told from Chung and Eve's perspectives respectively, take place approximately on Tuesday. Wednesday is when chapters 4 and 5 occur(so Ruben team and Velder team begin moving to Feita). Wednesday night, Feita is bombed. This chapter takes place the following Saturday.**

 **I apologize if this has caused any inconveniences. The next few books will also have many chronological twists, and I'd like to apologize in advance for that.**

 **also there will be more content on my tumblr going up tonight? I did a character design ref for Eve since she's human in this and I'm hoping to do more over the next few days. I'm actually terrible at drawing dudes so I'm prolly gonna draw all the girls first rip me**

 **I'm margaritadaemonelix on tumblr if you didn't catch that so uh yeah**

 **don't start cults kids**

 **even if I am the potato goddess**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	10. Chapter 10

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 10

You've been working in the hospital for about three hours when you get another chance to talk to Rena. Unlike you, she's been working overnight, and it shows in her tired eyes, her clothes, even her bloodstained hair.

"We didn't really get a chance to talk earlier," says Rena as the two of you address the next patient, whose skin was skimmed off by a falling chunk of a building. "You're Aisha, right?"

"Yeah," you say, pouring some isopropyl alcohol on a clean cotton pad. The patient winces as you gently dab the wound with the cotton, turning it from crisp white to a burnt bloody maroon. "And you're Rena."

"Yes," she says, sounding delighted. "How old are you? I'm twenty eight… I think."

"I'm twenty," you tell her, your mind on autopilot.

Rena seems genuinely surprised. "Woah," she says, pausing in her bandaging. "I thought you were maybe fifteen, sixteen tops."

You can't help but laugh nervously. "Yeah, I haven't grown much since I was twelve," you admit.

"Are you from one of the less stable cities?" She asks softly. You notice her sheepish smile as she tries to tuck in her large chest and fails.

"I'm from Bethma, if that's what you mean," you respond. "Didn't always have enough to eat, growing up. Even my mom used to call me a washboard."

Rena sighs. "I wish I could have a smaller chest," she says wistfully, poking her own. "It gets painful with large breasts, y'know, and there are a lot of cute things that just don't look cute unless you have a small chest."

"Maybe if we swapped chest sizes for a day," you suggest. "I've always wanted to see what it's like to have big jugs."

The patient coughs. "Uh, I hate to interrupt, but… Uh…" He turns red all over. "I'll shut up now."

Rena immediately enters her mother hen mode, which you find seems to work only when there's someone to fuss over. "I'm so sorry, you poor thing," she chitters, wrapping his leg wound in bandages and sticking the rest of the roll in her bag. "Drink lots of water, get lots of rest, and remember to let the wound get some fresh air in a few days!"

"I will," he promises, standing up shakily and taking a step. "Thank you."

As he leaves, Rena looks around, sighing. "There's not many people left," she says, putting a hand on your shoulder. "How about you go visit your friend? Bring him something to eat and get something for yourself. He's been looking after his sister all morning. I'm sure he could use a companion."

Her pained smile and her rumbling stomach make you want to say no, to tell her to get some food for herself, but she waves you off with a stern glare. "I had some food right before the bomb dropped," she assures you. "I'm not that hungry. Go on."

You almost desperately want to stay and help, but you give her an awkward smile and back out of the room, then the hospital.

The streets are still filled with chunks of stone, dirt clods and pieces of the shattered barrier in some places. A sharp piece of metal is embedded in a wall overhead. Most of the lights that once illuminated the inner city are broken or shattered, and in one case, crashed to the ground and nearly killed a man. The explosion caused pieces of the outer city to fly inwards, ricocheting off shops and landing nearly a kilometre into the inner city.

The marketplace is relatively unscathed, though most of the stalls are empty and a few closer to the blast are somewhat damaged. All the stall owners that aren't hurt are pitching in to make nutritious, filling meals and handing them out to those on break from repairs.

When you reach the head of the line, a young woman whose face is streaked with tears is spooning rice with vegetables and meat onto a paper plate. "Could I get two servings, please?" You ask.

She doesn't even answer verbally, just follows through mindlessly with the task of serving food. You take your two plates, mutter out a hasty "thanks" and leave the marketplace behind.

You only remember the Sieghart apartment number because Rena told you what it was in passing. The residential area is still fraught with the crying of children and adults alike. You pass by an open door where a man is trying to hold his wife back from running out. She's screaming horrible things at him, clawing at his face. A shiver passes down your spine. She reminds you just a little too much of your mother.

When you finally find Elesis' home, the door is closed. You can't knock on the door or press the doorbell, so you raise your knee and thump it, three times.

There are footsteps inside that rapidly come down the stairs and to the door. The lock clicks, and then the door swings aside.

Elsword looks grief-stricken, if anything. "You want something to eat?" You offer, holding out one of the plates for him.

He shakes his head. "Not hungry," he says. You hear his stomach rumbling, but his gaze is firm. "Come in. Elsa is sleeping."

You follow him into the apartment. It's simplistic, and you can't help but admire Elesis' bold contrast of the functional parts of the house versus the aesthetic parts.

Softly, Elsword opens the door to Elesis' room. The dim glow of a small table lamp is the only source of light in the room, but even in the darkness, you can make out the features of Elesis Sieghart. Her hair is just as red as Elsword's, maybe even more vibrant or a little darker. Her breathing is calm and paced out naturally.

"The doctor's final verdict was that she passed out from stress and a lack of sleep," he murmurs as he sits down on the bed next to her sleeping form and pushes a strand of her hair out of her face. "Although I'm pretty sure I also kinda scared her when I just magically showed up."

"Elsword, it's not your fault," you remind him. "Your sister is a strong woman. She can handle herself."

"Yes, but I should have been there for her!" He exhales slowly, like he's trying to clear his thoughts. "What can I do to help her out? To lessen her stress a little?"

The two of you sit in the darkness, watching Elesis' chest rise and fall with her breathing. "I just want to make up for the years I lost with her," admits Elsword quietly. "I had a really bad time coping after she… Left. Our parents didn't know what to do either. We had to bring ourselves back to society, little by little."

He sits up. "And now my sister's this huge general or something and has so many people that she needs to take care of," he says. "I don't know how to feel about that. There's so much responsibility on her, and I'm…" He's quiet again for a moment. "I'm no one. Someday I'll go down in history as the younger brother of the leader of a revolution."

"But you are someone," you argue. "You're Elsword. You are more than your sister's younger brother. You are a force to be reckoned with. You wanna know how you can make her proud? Do something. Get up and do what you can do best."

You're literally shaking his shoulders at this point, and your hands are beginning to tremble, but you're firm in your words and your beliefs. "Stop comparing your weaknesses to other peoples' strengths," you tell him. "Use your strength against their weakness. You can do more and you can be more."

For a heartbeat, Elesis' breathing is the only sound in the room. Elsword sighs. "I can go help with the cleanup," he mutters, shrugging you away and standing up. "Watch Elsa. Tell me if she wakes up."

As he leaves the room, muttering things to himself, someone else comes in. "Hello," says the boy at the door, pushing up his round glasses as he stands in the doorway. His hands are trembling behind his back, clutching a book tightly. Even in this darkness, you can tell you've found one of your own. A bookie, they used to call you back in Bethma. This boy is no different.

"Hi," you tell him. "I'm Aisha Landar. What's your name?"

"I-I'm Allegro," he says. "Miss Rena told me to look for you."

He's about the same height as you, and still has traces of baby fat that probably make him seem younger than he actually is. "What does she need?" You ask.

He shakes his head quickly. "Oh, it's not Miss Rena who actually needs you," he admits. "I'm actually General Lento Lucero's secretary."

The name Lento registers in your mind. "Lento is the one who suffered the back wounds, right?"

"Yes," confirms Allegro. "Usually, if General Lucero is incapacitated, General Sieghart will take over management of Feita, but since neither of them are currently able to do much..." He sighs. "It's my turn to take over the reins."

"How old are you?" You can't help but ask.

"Eighteen," he blurts out. "I'm turning eighteen this year."

He's a lot older than you expected, to be honest. Then again, for him to be a fucking _secretary_ , he has to be at least a legal adult, shouldn't he?

"Wow, kid, you're young," you tell him, standing up and dragging him out of the room by his sleeve. The food on the desk can wait. Elesis needs her sleep. "Say, what do you need help with?"

Allegro turns to you, his eyes wild and desperate. " _Everything_ ," he says. "I don't have any idea as to where to start. People are getting tired without a planned out schedule. Lots of the chefs are on break, and the few that are still working have been overworked. The clean-up crews are all over the place, and it's not effective!" Tears are beginning to leak out of his eyes, and you can see why. The lack of effective work drives you up a wall too.

"Calm down, Allegro," you tell him, handing him a tissue from a box sitting on Elesis' dinner table. He blows his nose with it. "Look, do you have a database with all these statistics?"

He nods. "In the library. Are you going to compile something?"

You sigh. "Look, kid, I didn't spend nearly nineteen years of my life being emotionally drained by my own mother just to show up and not do anything," you tell him. "We can throw something together and turn this city into a functioning train again. Lead the way. We're going to the library."

* * *

The Feitan Library is certainly not what you'd expected.

Or at least, the one Allegro's taking you to isn't a normal library. You go past a school(you think it's a school? There are children mingling inside) and enter a large room full of books, which you assume is the library he's speaking of. Yet Allegro steers you away from the massive bookshelves and the stacks of (unsorted!) books, instead bringing you to a staircase down, where you're greeted with rows of black cubes with green flashing lights.

"Nearly three hundred systems contain all our data," says Allegro, his voice swallowed up in the whirr of the computers. "The ones using Arabic numbers contain digital copies of every book in the library. The ones using Roman numerals have the files of every citizen in El-" He pauses. "Feita. Yes. Every citizen in Feita."

You roughly scan over the rows of computers in the faltering light overhead. Even with your shitty vision, you can see that more than half the computers are labelled with Roman numerals. "That's way too many computers. Allegro, do you have the files of every citizen of Elrios in those?" You snort.

"Yes, actually," he says, blushing and turning his head away. "Got them from the Sander Imperial Archives just a few days ago."

You stare in shock at him. Out of all the responses to your joking statement, this isn't something you'd expected. He's only seventeen, and yet he's already got the prowess and talent that hundreds of grown men and women twice his age can only dream of. "Let me get this clear," you say slowly, enunciating every word. "You hacked the Sander Imperial Archives."

"In my d-defense, it was during the crisis with the Head L-Librarian," he stutters, looking down into his hands. "There were virtually no defenses on the files."

"Wow," you manage. By all means, you're shocked. This is a genius at work, a child with _so_ much potential! "Allegro, you should really stop undermining yourself. You've literally accessed one of the most secure collections in Elrios! We have so much to work on now."

"You mean for the revolution," he says quietly. "General Sieghart keeps talking about the revolution. The big plan. The game changer."

"Yes," you tell him, starting up the nearest computer. You may not be the best with technology, but you can put together a simple spreadsheet and work out a schedule just fine. "Elesis has some big plans in mind, doesn't she. Is she still mad about the last revolution?"

"Possibly," admits Allegro. "Ever since she came to Feita, she's been nothing but supportive of us. I can't not admire her for her bravery. She was my age when she joined the last revolution."

You haven't thought of it that way before, but now that you've put it into perspective, Allegro seems so much younger, and Elesis so much older. "Out of all of us, I think she needs a break the most," you say. "You can go take a break, Allegro. I'll handle this."

He nods. "I'll be in the library. Err, the other library."

It doesn't take long to access the Feita files. Allegro must have spent many nights sorting them, reading through each one, even adding his own comments to many. The desktop is littered with folders and shortcuts, names ranging from "Ree" to "morpheus" to "deleted". Certain files have shortcuts in a nameless folder, such as Elesis Sieghart, Lady Evangeline Nasod, Raven and for some reason, the Head Librarian of the Sander Archives.

You pull up her file, which is already in red, indicating that she's dead.

 _File: Sourcream, Luciela Rowena_

 _Birthday: July 16_

 _City of Affiliation: Sander_

You've learned that "city of affiliation" really refers to your rank in the social ladder. Sander is fairly high up, approximately on the same level as Hamel and second only to Altera.

 _Parents: Sourcream, Abraxas; Sourcream, Elenora_

 _Siblings: N/A_

 _Status: Deceased_

Allegro does have a series of notes on the file, mostly pertaining to her mysterious death. One does catch your eye, though.

 _See Lucas, Lucia._

A quick search finds this "Lucas, Lucia" person in the Lanox archives. She has white hair and vibrant blue eyes in the ID photo, just like that of the late librarian's photo. Their birthdays both show up as July 16th. However, Lucia Lucas appears to be nine, turning ten, whereas the late librarian was at least thirty-one when she died. The similarities are uncanny, even though one is a woman and the other a child. You bookmark the file for later and close it, opening a new spreadsheet and naming it "schedule".

Within an hour, you've searched the databases for the nearly fifty thousand people in Feita, connecting it with the files in the hospital to find who is able and unable to work. The number of confirmed deaths seems to be low and stable, but creeps up once in a while and causes you to backtrack five minutes of organization. The number of missing persons decreases, on the other hand, giving you a little more wiggle room.

Overall, by the time Elsword finds you in the library(did Allegro tell him you're here?) you've got a wonderfully planned out schedule put together, and you've sent it to every functioning sector of Feita-the hospital, the marketplace, each individual repair ward, even the residential sector. He's got a mug of water in hand. "Aisha, you've been in here for an hour," he says, voice drowning in the noise.

"I know," you tell him, taking the mug and gulping down some of the water. You didn't realize how dry your mouth was until now. "But hey, I got the rest of the city back in order."

Elsword sits down beside you. "I helped Raven clear the outer city," he says. "And then Rena told me to go find you and bring you some water, and here I am."

"Well, you did follow her orders correctly," you mutter.

"I'm still worried about Elesis, though," he says, laying his head down on the table. "You've seen firsthand how this city doesn't run without her. She's out like a rock right while they need her the most. We need to put life back in this city, somehow."

"Elsword, that's…" You can't bring yourself to finish the sentence, because _he makes sense_. Elesis Sieghart is a natural leader, and without the leader, Feita cannot function. "You know what? We're going to make her a leader again. If she's the only life this city has, we're going to pump life back into it."

"I'm sorry, but did you just-" Elsword looks like he's about to strangle you for making a comparison like that, but you stand firm in your beliefs.

"We're going to write her a speech," you tell him. "Something that'll instantly get the city alive again. Something that will get them to stop putting up with the chaos. We've had so much happen this year alone, and it's barely just April! The Head Librarian was assassinated. There were protests in Elder than led to a series of arrests and murders. And now Feita has been bombed. I don't know about you, but I can't live in a world that doesn't take the lives of the people seriously."

You don't know when you stood up, but now you're yelling at the computers, yelling at Elsword who looks terrified. "Yikes, chill, Grape," he says, pulling you back down into your seat. "Take a chill pill. Breathe. I know you want to write a speech, but that's not exactly our forte."

"Aha!"

The sweet voice of Rena Lire echoes through the library as she bounds towards you, dragging Raven along. He's dropped the lab coat, leaving him in a completely black outfit that blends in with the dark library. "I knew you two had eloped off to somewhere," says Rena, smiling playfully.

You're suddenly thankful for the darkness, because your face feels like it's burning. "Who said anything about eloping?" Splutters Elsword, waving around a computer mouse frantically. "We're working on a speech for Elesis."

Raven makes an _oh_ of understanding. "Motivational," he says. "If there's one thing Elesis is really good at, it's encouraging a crowd to rise."

You start to pull up a blank text file before realizing that there's no way you can get it to Elesis digitally. Instead, you begin to scour the archive room for paper.

Eventually, you find a dusty old printer that still has some paper in its cartridge, which you open and empty out. The dusty cloud threatens to choke you, but you cough it out and bring a few sheets of paper back to the desk where Elsword, Rena and Raven are now seated.

You pick up a pen that you found lying around, and you begin to write.

* * *

 _Feita Residence 00026, 5:10 pm._

You're only faintly aware of your existence when someone pushes aside a strand of your hair from your eyes, and it slips by your nose.

It gets more irritating until you finally give in to the temptation. Even though you really don't want to wake up, you sit upright in bed, sneeze, and immediately lie back down.

Beside you, a familiar chuckle brings you back to reality. "Your sneezes still sound funny, Elsa."

You turn around and open your eyes to face Elsword. God, he's grown so much since the last time you saw him, right before you left for the protests. You've missed so much of his childhood. It's the only thing you've ever regretted about Altera-that you lost so much precious time with your brother. "I'm sorry, Els," you tell him. "I fucked up again, didn't I."

"It's alright, Sis," he assures you, smiling sadly as he gently pats your arm. "Aisha and Allegro took over management and stuff. Lento is recovering well. You need your rest. Allegro says you haven't slept in nearly three days."

You can't bring yourself to make eye contact with him, because you know it's the truth. "How are Rena and Raven doing?" You ask.

"After the head doctor found out Rena was from Altera, he put her in charge," says Elsword, laughing to himself. "I think he surprised her more than anyone else. As for Raven, he's helping out with cleanup and rebuilding. They realized that his prosthetic arm has a lot more strength than he thought it did. He can lift entire chunks of walls without breaking a sweat."

You can't help but smile as you sit up. "Sounds like Raven alright." You squint at the clock on the wall in front of you. "Ah, shit, I should probably get back to work, Els."

"You should probably be resting, though," he reminds you. "You literally passed out, Elesis. You've never done that before."

"Feita doesn't run without a leader," you laugh bitterly. "C'mon, Els. We need to get going."

Elsword's eyebrows shoot up. "Shit, I forgot to tell you!" He curses, digging into his pants pocket. "Aisha, Rena, Raven and I wrote you a motivational speech."

"Aw shucks, you didn't have to do that for me," you tell him, climbing out of bed. Thank El they didn't change you out of your day clothes. You grab your white jacket from the back of the chair at your desk and slip it on, over your black tank top and shorts.

"It's not that," says your brother. "We wrote a speech for you to say. As a leader."

"Oh."

"The people of Feita need you, Sis," says Elsword, his eyes full of light. "We're all putting our faith in you."

Oh, how you envy his innocence. You constantly have to remind yourself he's turning twenty soon, because the way he views the world is so childish, so one-dimensional.

"Very well," you sigh. "Let me see this speech. Can't be bad if everyone pitched in, right?"

He finally manages to tug the ripped paper out of his pocket and hands it to you. As you look it over, you see the different handwriting styles at play-Aisha's wide, loopy writing, Raven's quick scrawl, Rena's grandiose flourishes, and of course your brother's trademark scribbles. You can barely just make out the words of the speech, but it's well written.

"When should I go read this?" You ponder, stuffing it into your pocket. Elsword clears his throat, coming back into the room with two plates of food. You smell fragrant rice and sweet carrots, alongside the bittersweet scent of overcooked beef.

"We should probably eat something first," he suggests. "You haven't eaten since before you passed out, and I haven't eaten since I got here."

As if on cue, both your stomachs rumble in unison, causing you both to laugh. "Food sounds good right about now," you admit, sitting back down and taking a plate and a spoon from him. "Where'd you get this from?"

"I don't know," he admits, digging into his rice. "Aisha got it for me and then she just left them here."

You inhale half the plate in a heartbeat. Elsword scarfs down his entire plate in about half the time. Even as a child, he was a very fast eater and ate so much. You'll never understand your brother and his absurd eating habits.

As you make your way through the surprisingly tender beef, Elsword tries to recall some of the damage done to the city. "From what Aisha's calculated, everyone is accounted for in the city," he says. "We've found all the people labelled missing. I think the death tally right now is at a hundred and forty-six."

Your gaze locks onto something beyond your plate. "That's a hundred and forty-six lives lost," you mutter. "A hundred and forty-six killed. The entire population affected. The bomb wasn't a big one, but it destroyed my city."

Elsword is silent for a moment. "There are about three thousand in the hospital at the moment," he says. "About two hundred are in critical condition and under intensive care. Aisha got every person with even remotely some medical experience to help out with bandaging and stuff, and Rena assessed those with more training to look after the people in the emergency ward."

"Aisha does have a thing for organization," you say, scooping up the last of your rice and shovelling it into your mouth. "I have yet to meet her, but I can see why you like her so much. You could use a wife who puts some order in your life."

Your brother turns as red as his hair. "I don't like her in that way," he says.

Even the _tips of his ears_ are red. You decide that your brother must have seriously jumped off the deep end for this girl. "Alright, if you say so," you tell him, unable to wipe the shit-eating grin off your face. "Tell me if you want to move out of my apartment to live in hers, though-"

Elsword punches you in the arm before you can speak again. "Let's just go," he groans, leaving you alone in the bedroom. You laugh lightly to yourself as you clean up the oily paper plates and collect your cutlery.

He sure has grown up over the years. The last time you saw your brother, he was a tiny, scrawny little boy, ten centimetres shorter than you. Now, he's finally beat you in height, and quite possibly both your parents as well. After all, Lowe and Anne aren't the tallest people, and you still have no idea who your biological parents are.

His childish demeanor has changed, too. The untameable fluffy hair he was known for during his childhood seems to never go down completely, but he's managed to smooth it down and grow it out a little. He ties it off in a ponytail at the back and two shorter locks at the front. The giant red t-shirt he used to live in has been shrugged aside to make room for more practical clothing. The way he carries himself, his posture, how he walks with pride, has completely changed.

He's no longer just your little brother. Elsword has become your equal, a warrior in his own right.

"C'mon, sis," he says, dragging you outwards. "The others are waiting."

Your door locks automatically behind you, like always, but like always, you check it again to make sure it's locked. "Alright," you tell him. "Lead the way."

You have to steer him out of dead ends a few times. You really don't understand how Feita was designed, and why it was designed to be so confusing. You suppose there's only so much you can do within a mountain. Streets curl down nearly a hundred metres underground, and shoot up another thirty or so towards the top of the mountain. While the blast of the bomb didn't extend past about two hundred metres inwards, you'll still have to check the supporting structures underneath the outer city and the parts of the inner city affected by the impact.

It's a small wonder you're still alive after that blast, to be honest. Allegro said it was because you were behind the rock partition of the inner and outer cities, and also because a chunk of a building that landed near you acted as a shield. Still, you'd like to not press your luck with life-or-death situations for the next few centuries, thank you very much.

"Ey, Grape!"

You blink. Your brother's sudden shout shakes you out of your thoughts. Ahead of you, a small group of people is running over. You recognise Seris-no, Rena-'s familiar blonde hair as she bounds ahead of Raven and the purple-haired girl you assume is Aisha.

"Elesis, dear, you're awake!" She beams, grabbing your hands and bouncing up and down. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, Rena, thank you," you tell her, smiling. Rena's laughter is contagious, you swear. "How's it going out here? Has the majority of the chaos settled down?"

"Fortunately, yes," sighs Raven, rubbing his temples. "If I had to lift up any more walls I think I would have thrown one at somebody."

"I've done a lot of organizing," says Aisha, shaking your hand, "and it seems that Feita is stable for the time being. A little structural damage here and there, and of course there's the three thousand in the hospital and the hundred and fifty dead, but overall we're recovering fairly well."

"Speaking of which," says Rena, "did you get our speech?"

"Yeah," you tell her, taking it out of your jacket pocket. You still feel like it's too late or too early to be reading speeches, being heroic, but their bright smiles give you strength.

You make your way to the ruins of the outer city, where many people are resting. Even though your limbs are screaming no, your heart is screaming yes as you climb onto a fallen piece of building.

There's something red jammed in the crack between the two walls, too vibrant to be blood or anything natural. You yank it out and nearly fall off the rock in the process, but you've got a bright red umbrella in your hands.

Maybe it'll help you be more dramatic. Not that drama would help now.

"Feita!" You yell into the city. Your own voice bounces back at you. As the waves of people turn to face you, you realize that the broken dome has formed the effect of an amphitheatre.

"Tonight, our city lies in ruins," you say, your voice quieting down. "Did we deserve this?"

Aisha's writing says "pause for dramatic effect", which you nearly read out loud. You silently hold it in though, standing up straight. "What did we do to warrant the destruction of our home?"

Your audience bristles. You can't let them get out of hand, though. Your job is to promote a peaceful ending to a violent story, not to destroy a living nation.

"Altera has tried to put out our fire," you tell them solemnly, "but it has only added to our flames. As our home stood for us, so we shall stand for our home. When the barrier collapsed in on itself, the ground, the earth, the very mountain shook, but our people stood. When an Alteran bomber lit our home in a massive explosive corona, our people stood. When Altera threatened people of a different city, they came to _us_ for salvation."

You've forgotten the speech, you're making stuff up on the spot, you're forgetting to breathe, but you've never felt so alive, so _empowered_. "We will avenge all our siblings who have fallen," you tell them. "Those one hundred and forty-six people will never be forgotten. We will use their sacrifice as our motivation, to get up and bring our city back to life! Pull up those signs!" You point at a collapsed building with your umbrella. "Clean up that broken window! Even after the last ray of hope is swallowed up by darkness, we will continue to fight for our freedom and our city. We may not be warriors, but we fight with our words and our numbers and our _beliefs_."

You pause for a moment to breathe, taking in a deep breath before continuing. "There is no greater victory than that in ourselves, when we find who we are."

As you drive the tip of your umbrella into the crumbling concrete and raise your fist into the air, the people- _your_ people-begin to scream out their support. Tears are cried, have been cried, will be cried. Pain is felt, has been felt, will be felt.

But good things are coming, have come, will come. Change is appearing, has appeared, will appear. And when the time comes, you'll finally have faith in yourself, your friends and the future again. You'll take little steps until you get there. But for now, they're all you've got.

And at that moment, when the people of Feita begin chanting out your name, with Elsword, Aisha, Rena and Raven at the very front of the movement, everyone you've ever known and _loved_ pouring all their faith into you, for once, just for a moment-

You feel like the leader you want to be.

* * *

 **A/N: honestly what has the speech assignment done to me I wrote a speech on the spot and it turned out to be for nanowrimo rip me** **use rhetoric in your writing it's fun**

 **I've honestly had such a shitty week though like this chapter took me nearly five days to finish thank gog I had reserve chapters(aka chapter 9)** **well I'm fresh out of reserve chapters right now but hey ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO**

 **Thank you to guest user Hello Stranger for bringing me back to life with your kindness, and also to EternaPhoenix for being so supportive every step of the way. I love y'all bbys**

 **teasers are for the next few books. Lu won't show up anymore in this book but she does have a major role in the next few.** **also the "deleted" folder is very, very important to some of the characters. Also, Ree is a nickname.** **I might make a minicollection for oneshots in this universe.**

 **Don't worry folks Lento does not die**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


	11. Chapter 11

SPECTATOR

By MargaritaDaemonelix

Chapter 11

You can't move, can't breathe, can't speak.

The laptop is still stuck at ninety-eight percent. Out of all the times that this could have happened, you really wish it hadn't been now.

" _Evangeline? Are you alright, dear?_ "

Eve looks like the entire world has come crashing down on her, which honestly isn't that much of a fantasy anymore. If the two of you are caught trying to escape, Adam could pull up all the files against you, he could search everything you own until he has enough evidence to convict both of you guilty for treason. You'd probably be executed, although being sent to a high-security prison in Lanox doesn't sound too out of the question either.

Her eyes narrow on her laptop as she points at it. You turn to realize that it's finally hit one hundred percent, and is processing the files.

Silently, Eve kneels down and begins to crawl over to beside you. Her hands are shaking with fear, but she manages to type out three words in the dead silence.

 _get your launcher_

It takes you a moment to process, but you nod at her in acknowledgement and slowly stand up as she mutes her laptop and removes the portable hard drive. Every tap of your boot against the floor seems to echo through the room, fifty times over.

" _Sir, Lady Nasod seems to be sick right now and likely wishes not to speak to anyone-_ "

" _Look, that's my fiancee, not yours, so how about you fucking open the door for me?"_

You grit your teeth as you take another step towards the door, where your Destroyer is propped up against the wall. Add could be right outside this door, and you could barrel through and take him out, be rid of him for good.

But that would sabotage the entire mission, and for what it's worth, Add doesn't deserve to die. Even if you did kill him, there's still a staff member outside, and they'd sound the alarm. Besides, would Eve be able to look at you the same way if you just murdered him? You pick up your Destroyer and heft it on your shoulder.

You turn around just in time to see Eve throw aside her battery pack and crack her laptop over her knee.

Plastic shards and glass pieces fly everywhere across the floor. Her boot is rumpled and has splinters of plastic stuck in it. Yet the hollow ring of the laptop breaking carries through the room.

" _EVANGELINE! Goddammit, I'm going in!"_

" _Sir, no, please sir-"_

Eve tosses the two large pieces of her laptop aside. "Good riddance," she mutters, cracking her knuckles and tucking a loose strand of her hair back. "Wait until he breaks down the door. Then we can catch him by surprise."

It's moments like this that you recall that Eve is a planner at heart. She's still standing gracefully, composed, but you know she's just as afraid of the possibilities as you are.

 _BOOM._

Add knocks into the door once, twice, three times. A screw pops out of the doorhinge. "Get ready," she says, taking one of her laser pistols out of its holster.

The moment you see the top of the door begin to fall, you charge.

Add seems triumphant for a moment as you plow into him before his expression turns into one of shock. The staff member screams as you sweep your Destroyer out in a wide range, catching him off guard and smacking him to the ground.

You scan over the donut-shaped hallway. While there's no way to see around the elevator, you can't hear any signs of other people.

As Eve steps across her fallen door and into the hallway, the lights go out and a siren starts blaring. The only source of light left on the entire floor is from Eve's table lamp, still standing strong despite the apparent lack of electricity in the rest of the building.

"Did you lock everything up?" You ask.

Eve nods. "Let's go."

She pulls up her tablet and begins to type, lightning fast. Soon, the elevator door in front of you opens. The two of you step in as the other side of the elevator splits apart, revealing the spiral staircase that supports the centre of the Altera Core.

The wall in the elevator closes again, leaving Eve's tablet screen as the only source of light left in the stairwell. Eve takes in a deep breath. "No turning back," she says, more to herself than to you. "No regrets."

"No regrets," you agree. "Now let's go."

It takes a while to start descending the staircase, especially since Eve's still wearing heels, but little by little, the two of you make your way down. "If we can get to the thirty-fifth floor," you remind her, "there'll be a service elevator we can go down. Then it'll be smooth sailing."

"We might have to edit the elevator out, though," she says, her face ghostly in the dim light of the tablet. "I'm looking through security cams right now, and I'm seeing people rushing about on literally every floor. We're going to be meeting some folks in the stairwell at some point. I'm working on locking them all out, but that's mainly because you need to step through the elevator to get through. If my brother regains control of the Core, I might not be able to stop them."

"Then reset the password!" You tell her. "Make a ridiculously long password."

Eve thinks for a moment. "I'll string our names and birthdays together," she decides as she begins to type furiously. "Evangeline… Seraphina… Nasod… Eleven… Twenty-three… Prince… Chung… Seiker… Twelve, five!"

The tablet lights up pink in her hands, signalling that she's gained complete control over the entire building. "I'm in," she says, delighted. "The Core is now at my beck and call."

The two of you stop in the stairway as she begins to recall the emergency protocols. "Sirens are off, and power should be restored in just a few moments," she says. The lights flicker back to life before she can even finish her sentence.

"We need to keep going," you urge. "Can you break the main elevator? The one that gets to the stairwell?"

"I can drop it like a dumbbell and flatten my brother's fat ass, if that's what you mean," she says, continuing to run. "I'll see what I can do. Possibly send it to the highest floor and keep it there."

Pretty soon, you start to hear the screaming of the people inside the elevator as they shoot skywards. "Keep going, keep going," you tell Eve, who has stopped to listen to the screaming.

She nods, takes a step, and nearly topples over the side of the staircase as her heel gives way beneath her.

You catch her hand just before she slides over the edge and into the abyss. When you make eye contact with her, you can see the fear that radiates from Eve's golden eyes.

For a moment, the stairwell is silent, save for Eve's panicked breathing. "Thank you, Chung," she says, hoisting herself back up by your arm and turning her foot around a few times. "If I die tonight, I'd really rather it not be from falling down a staircase to my death. Too undignified."

"Aye," you murmur, forcing yourself to let go of her hand. In your giant gauntlets, her hands seem so tiny, so small.

Speaking of your gauntlets…

"Eve, I want to test something out," you say. "Just don't speak, okay?"

"Are you going to turn on your radio?" She looks genuinely curious, but she's hit it right on the spot.

"Bingo," you mutter in reply, turning on the radio via a knob on your gauntlet and messing around with it. Eve scans the gauntlet over with her tablet once. There's a sudden moment of ear-piercing static before the signal clears.

" _Have you located Lady Nasod and Seiker Two yet?_ "

" _We're getting signals between forty and thirty-eight._ "

" _Good. Keep looking._ "

Eve grits her teeth. "At least we know where we are now," she says, furiously typing into her tablet. "Unfortunately, so do they. I can mess around with their system, but it'll take some time."

"Then don't bother with it," you tell her. "As long as we can get out on the right floor, we can avoid them almost entirely."

There's a number on the next elevator back door you pass by-number thirty five. "Here," you tell Eve, grabbing her arm and steering her towards it. "Can you open it manually?"

"Yes," she says. "There's a problem though. The elevator itself is full of people and approximately on the eighty-second floor."

As if on cue, the door opens to reveal the empty elevator shaft with its double pulley running down the centre. "Security cams show no one at the west elevator, though," she says, "and the elevator shaft actually runs around in a donut. If we can climb towards the west elevator, we can probably make it out of that door."

You squint for a moment at the darkness. The pulleys suddenly whirr to life, bringing an elevator cart up from heavens knows which floor.

Inspiration suddenly strikes you. "Eve!" You yelp, shaking her arm. "Stop that cart right at the floor below us!"

You must have startled her, because she nearly drops her tablet down the dark elevator shaft. The cart screeches to a stop at the floor below yours, right at the west end. There's a lot of screaming from inside. You hear someone inside turn on their intercom and report to Harrington. You don't have much time, and you need to get moving.

"Get on my back," you tell her, "I'll carry you over."

Eve shakes her head, putting her tablet back in her petticoat. "I'll only be a burden," she says. "I can carry myself over, thank you."

She reaches into the darkness and grabs ahold of the cords in front of you. "I feel like they're moving down again," she says. "Better hurry it up."

Without another word, she swings into the darkness, landing on the elevator car. " _There's someone on the roof!_ " A scream from inside the cart as Eve's heels touch down on the surface and she begins to desperately plug cheat codes into her tablet.

You search your shoulder pads for a small button, which you punch. Instantly, the back of your armor begins to rise, folding and unfolding over your face, until you're wearing an entire visor. You look through the eyeholes, thankful for the night vision that comes with the mask.

You're not technically supposed to be doing this, but for Eve's sake, the military protocol you were born and raised to follow can go fuck itself.

The darkness in the shaft suddenly becomes a million times brighter. You can see the tiny wires and the gently blinking lights that line the walls. You can count every single bolt in the panelling, and every loose thread in the cable of the pulley.

You reach out and grab the cable in front of you. Taking in a deep breath and holding on tightly to your Destroyer, you push off from the edge of the doorway and swing a full two hundred and seventy degrees around the cable.

For a terrifying moment, you can't find anything in the darkness. Thoughts of _death by broken elevator cable_ and _death by falling thirty five storeys_ fill your mind, but your boots scrape past the elevator car, and you grip the cable just a tighter as you swing towards it-

And land next to Eve with a thump. She's closing the door to the stairwell just as the west elevator door in front of you opens. "Visor on?" She looks amused. "You must be preparing for the chaos outside."

In the moment when the people outside realize they're at the wrong door, the adrenaline takes over for you.

The first wave of people rushing towards you are, of course, staff members. The thirty-fifth floor is mostly staff accommodations. You really don't want to hurt them, but you knock them aside anyways with your Destroyer, sweeping it out in a low circle to avoid smacking anyone in the face.

The second wave is less friendly. A group of Adam's guardsmen are shoved into the mix, wielding batons and tasers. You knock a taser out of one guy's hand as a baton collides with your face, causing the controls in your visor to flicker out for a moment as you try to regain your ground.

You're toppling backwards into the darkness, back into the shaft, when someone pushes you back to your feet. You blink the spots out of your eyes to see Eve dancing through the guardsmen, a laser pistol in one hand and her tablet protectively clutched in the other. Even though her heels seem to twist painfully with every step, she still carries herself with grace and dignity as she _fucking obliterates_ them.

Behind you, the door slowly rolls shut. Eve shakes the hair out of her face and grimaces at their twisting forms on the floor. "Is this what my brother thinks of me?" She snarls, "Incapable of handling myself as a woman?"

The loudspeaker above you begins to blare. " _Attention, attention. Lady Nasod and her bodyguard have been found on floor thirty five. All troops deploy to floor thirty five._ "

You grit your teeth. "We need to keep going," you tell her. "The service elevator is through the staff quarters."

"Try not to cause any unnecessary damage," she replies, already typing away into her tablet. Your heart is pounding against your chest, but you slam into the door with your Destroyer nonetheless, causing wooden splinters to fly everywhere as you charge into the staff quarters.

There's a scream as someone throws their coffee in the air. You turn your shoulder forwards and plow through the unfortunate staff members in your way. Eve is right behind you, heels clicking as she literally stomps her way through the chaos. "Through that door!" She yells, swinging her foot out at one guy in an apron.

The elevator opens when you show up. A few confused-looking chefs peer out, only to be knocked aside by Eve, who rams them towards a nearby wall. "Move it!" She barks, dragging you into the elevator just as the doors close behind you.

"I'm turning off my brother's access to the cams, loudspeakers, every form of communication," she says as the two of you catch your breath in the elevator. "I'm looking through all the cams, though, and there are people congregating near this elevator on nearly every floor below ours, particularly near the bottom floors."

"We need to get to about the twentieth floor," you recall off the top of your head. "Then we head for the spiral staircases. We leave from a storage room near the west wing."

"Affirmative."

The two of you ride in silence. "You may want to prepare some ammo," she warns you. "I can see armed forces at the front of the group."

"Already locked and loaded," you reply. "Do you want to stand back and watch for this one?"

"I'll have my pistols at the ready," she says, "just in case someone can't keep their hands off a lady."

Her sarcastic tone makes you think of her brother's cold words, but you prepare for combat nonetheless. The visor comes back down around your face as the door opens.

As expected, people begin to flood in, but you launch yourself at them, shoulder and Destroyer turned towards them. Knives and sharp things are all flying everywhere, but you don't take particular notice of them. You sweep under a person's feet with your Destroyer and release a few timed explosives. "Eve!" You yell.

She's cleaning up behind you. "Right there," she yells back, stepping on some guy's head and running up your back, launching herself into the air and landing on her feet somehow in front of you. "Move out!"

The two of you only make is about ten metres ahead before the explosion rocks the ground at your feet. Screaming fills the air. You can't tell whose.

Once again, the floor is filled with the pounding of your boots and the clinking of her delicate heels. You still feel awful about giving her such high heels when she clearly can't run in them, but Eve carries herself with grace and glides across the floor like an angel. "In here," she says, kicking down a door. "I'll lock it once we go in."

"Get your tablet," you tell her, looping your arm around her waist and taking off. The door closes behind you and clicks shut as you run down the stairs. Eventually, these stairs do end up merging with the ones in the grand hall, but if you can slip out either in the chaos of the soiree or the darkness of the abandoned hall, you can get away just fine.

Eve's eyes grow wide. "Chung, duck!" She screams. You heed her word just in time to see a pipe burst in hot steam over your head. "I think the lack of control over the Core is causing the systems to go haywire!"

"There's no time," you tell her, gritting your teeth as you struggle to keep her and the Destroyer on you. "We're probably close to the floor with the grand chandelier. We can avoid the exploding shit there."

"What if we get electrocuted?" Snaps Eve, kicking aside a fizzing wire as she brings herself up and begins to look at her tablet from behind your head. You shift your grip to support her weight, though she's not particularly heavy. "I'm going to shut off the grand chandelier. We'll use the light from the wall sconces, though it'll be significantly less illuminated."

"That's fine by me," you grunt. "Found the floor."

The lights that had been radiating up the staircase suddenly go out. You blink as you adjust to the relative darkness, though your visor helps. You can make out the features of the glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling, with beautiful etching made by Empyrean artists. It's still a little too far out of your reach, though, and you don't exactly have an extra hand.

"Eve, I need you to get on my back," you tell her, . "I can't carry you and the Destroyer with both hands and go down the chandelier at the same time."

She shakes her head and slips out of your hold. "We'll go together," she says. "I need to stop being a burden on you."

You want to stop, to argue against her, but she's already tucking her tablet back into her pocket and pulling out something else. "I brought a really long piece of ribbon," she says, tugging it out. "I don't know why I thought of it, but I suppose it comes in handy."

She reaches out towards you. You're confused until she grabs your Destroyer from you. As fragile as she may look, Eve is incredibly strong, and holds up your launcher as she threads the ends of the ribbon through it and ties it off. "There," she murmurs, slinging it over your shoulders. "Now you have two hands to hold onto the chandelier instead of one."

"I'll go first," you blurt out, though your voice wavers in the awkward silence that follows Eve's gentle gift to you. "It doesn't seem right for the lady to go first in this situation, does it?"

"We'll go together," she repeats, almost like a mantra to herself.

You catch the fear in her eyes almost instantly.

Nodding, you reach out and grab the slick glass of the chandelier. You take in a deep breath, and step over the railing.

Fortunately, you don't fall like you expected to. Instead of crashing like a rock to the ground below, you grip onto the glass, fingers locked in the holes between each crystal. "Going down," you tell her softly. "Wish me luck."

Carefully, you move your other hand a foot below , slowly shifting your weight down to your new grip. The chandelier creaks under your weight, but it doesn't seem to break in any way. There's no way you're ever pressing your luck like this again.

Eventually, your even pattern of exhaling and moving down brings you to the bottom of the chandelier. There's still a drop of about a flight of stairs or so. You've been trained for this, though, and you let go of the glass, tucking yourself into a somersault as you hit the ground.

You stand up and dust yourself off to look up at Eve. "Coast is clear," you shout. "I'll catch you."

Even from nearly three stories below her, you can tell that Eve is trembling. "I… I don't want to fall, Chung," she says, her voice very small in the now empty hall.

"I won't let you fall, I swear," you remind her. "It's like rock climbing. Remember that time we went rock climbing in Hamel? Just hook your fingers into the lights and climb down, little by little. Don't look down."

She's silent for a few moments, as if weighing her options. "Can't I take the stairs?" She says.

"There are people on the floors between mine and yours," you tell her. "Eve, I can and I will catch you. You need to trust me."

You watch in awe as Eve breaks every barrier that's ever held her back and reaches out to the chandelier.

It takes a painfully long time, but Eve inches her way down the chandelier. She seems to clutch onto the tip with her entire body, shaking the glass structure from tip to base. "You need to catch me, Chung," she says desperately. "You _need_ to."

"I'm right here, Eve," you remind her. "I will catch you. I won't let you fall."

She takes a few deep breaths. Then, she lets go of the chandelier.

You're almost too stunned to move when she drops through the air, but you react in time to move your position to scoop her into your arms as she comes near you. The two of you crash to the ground, your Destroyer and ribbon rolling free.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" You murmur, lifting your visor to kiss her forehead as she trembles.

You're worried, though. This drop was only about half of what the drop from the broken staircase at the base of the Altera Plateau. You've always known about her fear of falling, but you didn't know it would be this serious.

Then again, Eve is very talented at hiding emotion.

"We need to keep moving," she says, wiping away a tear as she stands up. "Where to next?"

"There's a side staircase we're going down," you recall. "Fifteen floors down to ground floor."

She tries to smile. "Lead the way."

You can't help but smirk. "Of course, milady."

You bring your visor down once more and pick up your Destroyer, wrapping the ribbon around your arm to secure it. You run, and Eve is right beside you, heels still clicking.

As you're going down the fifteen flights of stairs, windows start popping up in the wall beside you, showing the night sky outside, as well as some other troubling things. "Hey Eve, what's that white hexagon supposed to be?" You ask, stopping and pointing at it.

They're erupting out of the ground, beginning to build up from a single point. You wonder if it's a wall designed to keep you in.

Eve is silent. "I have no clue," she says. "It's spreading outwards. We should probably beat it out and get away from the building while we still can."

When the next hexagon pops up, you grab Eve's hand and run. There's a good chance that those things are hostile, and if even Eve doesn't know what they are, then you might as well be trapped in the Core forever.

The remaining stairs seem to fly away like dust, but every step you take is hollow. There isn't any purpose for them, aside from leading you downwards. You hear the sounds of your pounding feet, but you feel like you're walking on a breeze that travels a million miles away the moment you step down.

"Just outside that door!" You gasp as the two of you drop to the bottom floor. You're officially on the first floor of the Altera Core, at long last. Eve slams into the door and it crashes against the wall, but you're through.

The storeroom is empty of all human life. There are a few robot patrols that point their weapons at you, but Eve's fingers fly across her tablet and they ignore you once more. The two of you run through stacks and crates of all sorts of foods and supplies.

"There!" You yell. The truck hangar door is closed, but you run up to the control panel and pry off the lid. There's always an emergency switch or some sort of servos that can open the door, you've found. After all, the Core is a huge building that houses nearly half of Altera's population. In the event of an emergency evacuation, all doors must be able to function with or without authorization.

Sure enough, there's a small red button labeled "EMERGENCY OPEN" in bright red lettering. You immediately jam your thumb into it. The hangar door squeaks, but lifts up.

Eve grabs your Destroyer and drags you out before the door has gone up completely. "Hurry, we might be able to beat out the weird things," she urges.

You rush on ahead of her.

 _bzzt_

For the record, you're glad Eve isn't as brash and impulsive as you are. You run visor-first into an invisible wall and crash to the ground from the impact. "Chung!" Screams Eve, kneeling beside you.

As the two of you look up, the web of hexagons unravels from your impact point. "We're too late," whispers Eve. "The force field has already been raised."

She puts her face in her hands. "FUCK!" She screams, shaking all over. "FUCK MY BROTHER AND HIS STUPID FORCE FIELD!"

"Eve, Eve," you tell her softly, though your heart is in your throat. _This can't be the end, can it?_ "We still have time. You can deactivate it via your controls."

"I don't have time!" She wails. "The force field isn't actually a part of the Core! I'd have to get into my brother's private servers to take it down, and I don't have the time! I can't build a password algorithm on the spot, I can't take down the force field, I'm USELESS!"

"EVANGELINE SERAPHINA NASOD, LISTEN TO ME," you shout, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look you in the eye. "You are not useless. You are capable of so much more than this. Tackle the problems you can face. What can we do to stall for time until you can take down the force field?"

Eve's silent for a moment. You wonder if you scared her with the sheer volume of your voice. "We can lock everyone else in the Core for now," she says. "Yes. That'll be a good idea."

She opens her pocket and takes her tablet out again, plugging in her own password and pulling up her control panel. "The Core is now under complete lockdown," she mutters, selecting a few boxes and pressing "save". "I can probably set up the algorithm to unlock the force field now."

"If you're done crying, sweetheart, I'd like to take over the Core again."

Your uncertain smile instantly turns into a feral snarl as you turn to face Add. He's just leaning against the hangar door like it's no one's business. "I've been told you've reset it to a forty-nine digit masterpiece, Evangeline," he drawls. "Hand over the password."

"What's in it for me?" Growls Eve. "What benefit do I have by giving you control over the building again? I'd rather spend an eternity locked in limbo than go back to that hell."

Add shrugs. "I can unlock the barrier for you."

 _Unlock the barrier_

You turn to Eve. Her eyes are just as wide as yours. "I know, my pretties," chuckles Add. "Sounds like a nice idea, doesn't it? I did have a hand in constructing this barrier. I can override the code for it whenever you want. Just hand over the password and no one gets hurt. I'll even give you two a few minutes to make a run for it before I reset to Core back to its defaults."

Eve's eyes are pleading with you. "Can we trust him?" She whispers. "This is the only shot we have at survival."

"Your call, milady," you murmur in reply.

She stands up, and you stand up with her, Destroyer in hand. "I will reset the password of the Core," she tells him. "In exchange, you must unlock the barrier for us and speak nothing of our escape."

Add laughs. It's a dry laugh, with no real humour. "Oh, trust me, your brother already knows of your adventures," he says. "I'm just doing this for a friend who could use some allies."

He sticks his hands in his suit pockets before laughing. "Silly me, how could I put my phone in there?" After rummaging through both his pant pockets, he draws out a thin phone, about half the size of Eve's tablet. "Barrier goes down in one minute," he says. "Password, please."

Eve's mouth is pressed into a thin line, but she opens her own control panel. "Password has been reset to the word blink," she says. "B-l-i-n-k. Five letters."

Add smiles, focused on his phone. "Good," he says, his phone screen lighting up purple. "The barrier will be going down in a few seconds. You will have a twenty-second frame of time to get out."

He looks up at the both of you. You're ready to leave, but his curious gaze catches you. "Eve, Chung," he says. "Godspeed and good luck."

The barrier fades with a buzz, and without a single look back, you run away from the tower you've called home for the past ten years.

* * *

He stands there for a while, watching them disappear into the darkness. At this hour, Altera shouldn't be this dark, but after his fiancee shut down the Core, power stopped flowing to most of the city.

Well, former fiancee, he should say. As he carelessly leans against the side of the building, messing around with his phone, the chief of her brother's guard shows up, with at least a dozen armed men in tow.

"Where is Lady Nasod?"

He smiles as he thinks of the last time he had to help in an escapade like this, six, nearly seven years ago. He wasn't caught last time. Maybe he's nearing the end of his career.

"She's finally free to kick your asses."

* * *

Your theories about your fiance have been proven, then disproved, within the same half hour.

On one hand, you know for a fact that he's a creep and you most definitely don't want to marry him under any sort of circumstances. On the other hand, you now know that he has motives other than earning power in Altera. What does he mean by "a friend who could use some allies"? Are they fighting for the same cause as you are? Has Add been part of a rebel alliance all along, right under your brother's nose?

The sheer thought of such a thing makes your vision swim. "Let me take a breather," you tell Chung, who's still running at your side. "We're getting close to the border, aren't we?"

"Yes," he says, pausing next to you. "We're probably in the shopping district right now. Eve, I know we don't really have the time to do this but-"

"I know," you say quietly. "Who the hell is Add Kim?"

The two of you are silent for a while. "He probably got captured by the guards, didn't he," says Chung. "Is he some sort of undercover agent that's been working in Altera for, what, five years? Just to allow us to escape?"

"I don't know," you admit. "We need to keep moving. We haven't even passed the peach tree yet."

Just past the immediate shopping district lies a small garden park. At the centre of said park is the peach tree where you'd directed your birds. "Moby! Remy!" You call out. "Return to me."

There's just the sickeningly sweet scent of small wildflowers and the eerie silence of the Alteran night for a moment. You wonder if Moby and Remy are lost, or your brother has caught them and intends to use them to lure you back-

But like a pair of twin lightning strikes, your birds emerge majestically from the peach tree, your bags still clutched in their claws. Remy coos at you as she drops your bag into your waiting arms, making purring noises and landing on your outstretched arm.

"Hey, Moby, yeah, I love you too buddy," says Chung beside you. You turn around to see him struggling to put his bag on while Moby pecks at his visor. "Eve, can you call off your bird?"

"Moby," you tell him sternly. The peregrine falcon chirps and flutters off Chung's shoulder pads to hover next to Remy. The two birds look at you curiously, as if awaiting further instructions.

You take a deep breath. "Let's go," you tell them, all three of them.

With your best friend running at your side, and your two hunting falcons ripping through the air beside you, you've never felt so alive, so energized, so _free_. There's no limit to your energy, only your own free will. Even the pain in your feet simmer down to a dull throbbing, only a minor nuisance in the grand scheme of things.

You pass by the old buildings that you grew up looking over-the movie theatre, the shopping mall, the grand library. Each one seems to hold so much in your heart, but when you look at the freedom just waiting for your beyond the edge of the plateau, they melt away like snow.

The colours of the night blend together into a hazy mess of black and white as you and Chung stop at the fire escape staircase. "Is this the only way down?" You ask, peering over the side. The Plateau is still daunting to you, as much as you hate to admit it.

"Unfortunately, yes," sighs Chung as he breaks open the lock with his bare hand. "C'mon, we're almost free."

"STOP, YOU TWO!"

You can't say that you're not surprised at the sound of Adam's screeching behind you. "Go, go, go!" You scream, turning away from the massive clump of people following your brother and literally jumping down the stairs after Chung.

You've always hated going down stairs with heels on, but running down a wooden staircase is no better. There's a small handle along the side of the plateau, but you skim your fingers across it and a splinter finds its way into your glove. You can't help but swear under your breath as you keep running.

Even though you have a headstart on him, Adam doesn't have any gear on him, and he's catching up. You take another step forwards and nearly tumble off the staircase. "Focus!" Snaps Chung. "The drop is just up ahead!"

 _Drop?_

You dig your heels into the wooden planks as Chung dives off the end of the broken staircase, rolling to a stop in the clearing at the edge of the forest below. "Jump, Eve, it's just like the chandelier," he yells.

You're paralyzed, and suddenly all the energy drains out of you once again. Your feet sends spikes of pain shooting up to your elbows. You can't move. This is way more than the jump from the chandelier. "Chung, I can't!" You choke out. "I can't jump."

"Evangeline."

You turn around, already assuming a defensive stance. Adam is slowly making his way down the staircase, step by step. "You shouldn't have listened to him," he purrs. "What is he to us? A minion? A child? Eve, you and I are _high Alterans_. We have royal blood flowing through us that Seiker cannot hope to match."

"EVE!" Shouts Chung below you. You want to move, escape from this misery, but you just _can't_.

"Ignore him, Evangeline," says your brother. "Come back to Altera and we'll rule Elrios as proper leaders. The Morpheus Project will allow us to control all of Elrios once again. I'll even bring back your little maid. How does that sound?"

 _The Morpheus Project._

 _Wasn't that the reason why we decided to leave?_

 _To protect Elrios?_

You face your brother once again. "I am sorry, Adam," you tell him, letting go of the railing. "I will return to Altera as its rightful ruler."

 _Just don't look down._

"Someday."

You let your exhausted feet relax, and you topple over the edge of the staircase.

You can hear Adam still screaming above you. The stairs and the stars seem to blend together with the night sky. Below you, Chung is yelling, but you ignore it as the wind envelops you and your skirts billow out, like the falling petals of a white flower.

 _For the safety of Elrios, I must leave Altera._

 _But in the end, was it worth it?_

* * *

 **A/N: And I am done. Thank you, folks, for following me through to the end of the first book of Blink, and to the end of my Nanowrimo.**

 **While progress on part two has not begun yet, I assure you it will begin very soon. I'm actually taking on a 30-day Pokemon challenge first on my tumblr, so if you're interested in that I'm margaritadaemonelix**

 **and now for the special thanks!**

 **\- Special thanks to user EternaPhoenix for reviewing on legit every chapter mad props to you bro shhh what ch 2 there is no ch 2**

 **\- Special thanks to user Zadred212 for starting a potato cult? also mad props to you**

 **\- Special thanks to user InfinityEls for also starting a cult? mad props bc your first review made me laugh like a maniac at like midnight**

 **guise seriously don't start cults read the orange papers 101 reasons to not start a cult**

 **\- Special thanks to guests Hello Stranger and The Guest, as well as users Amy Valikie and Ducky and Izzy for leaving lovely reviews and making my day! mad props to y'all too!**

 **And of course, thank you to everyone who has read my story! Should I mention that we've hit 1000 views? WOOT in any case to celebrate and to keep y'all on your toes in the meantime I'll start working on the oneshot collection.**

 **Once again, thank you for all your support, and I'll be sure to see you soon! Any questions or concerns, drop me a review or a PM!**

 **~MargaritaDaemonelix**


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